Around our house we try to not let holiday fever kick in until after Remembrance Day. It’s not much of a reprieve, but that cuts two weeks off of the earliest portion of the build up. The kids will have an assembly to practice for, poems to memorize, and drawings of poppies to complete. That covers enough crafting that they aren’t left itching for something Santa Clause related to do – yet. Plus it helps that we also have two family birthdays in early December, so that becomes a partial focus too. It isn’t that I don’t like Christmas. I love it. If I were wealthy I would decorate the house like a pro with holly boughs and lights, additional trees, and all sorts of streamers and knick-knacks. But I’m not, so I don’t. Plus our kid’s stuff is everywhere and the type of decorating I’d want to do would require a spotless showroom look to the house. Not ideal for kids under nine years of age. Once the kids get older I might actually be able to decorate for the holidays how I’ve always wanted to. Our pre-lit Martha Stewart Christmas tree is on its last legs. None of the pre strung bulbs light up anymore. So a new tree would be in order at any time in the future. I just loathe the idea of spending $500.00 as the base price for what appear to be less than stellar trees. I’ll just buy more light strands and try to hide how shabby the tree is. Can’t go wrong with more white and colourful light strands on the seven foot tall tree. We also like to overload our tree with every single decoration we own. I used to decorate with a colour coordinated scheme, but as the kids grow up and help more, we’ve moved away from a motif in favour of total coverage. So it isn’t a dislike for the Holiday season, I just find that too much build up places far too much pressure on the actual day. No matter how prepared you are, nor how thoughtful the gifts, a straight two month build up will leave the kids underwhelmed on the actual day. That’s the part I don’t like. So we try to shorten the building up period by observing other events and birthdays so that we really only have three full weeks of intense Santa Claus present delivery worship. That’s the best I can offer.
Still lots to do around here today. Need to dig up all of the Dahlias, and the Glad bulbs too. If we leave them any longer they are going to die in the cold. Plus I would love to put the exterior lights up on the house. It isn’t freezing rain, nor extremely windy today, so a great time to do the lights. They don’t have to be connected to the timer right now. Just up on the eaves, and not on my to-do list. I’m going to start further back on the far side of the house to avoid having to go behind the giant Lilac Bush on the opposite side. I just hope I have enough plastic clips left to do it all. UV rays wreak havoc on those little clips. They become brittle little shrapnel bombs when you have to torque them to get the light strand into them. Such fun!
I need to eat breakfast. The time change is upon us. Kids chose not to sleep in at all. As though that were actually an option. Ha. Psst! It really wasn’t. These kids would run amok twenty three hours a day if you let them. What’s this, what’s that? Like two smaller Jack Skelingtons all day long, every single day, without fail. Tireless little whirl winds of chaos and destruction. Luckily we’ve been training them to do various chores so that they contribute to the running of the household. Sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and washing windows. I’d be just as happy if they could put their dirty laundry inside their hampers, and not on the floor, or hang up the clothes they’ve pulled off of hangers accidentally. But that’s just me being wishful.
Have a great lazy Sunday. Ciao Bella!
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