Since we have a very small bungalow I usually let the Christmas tree do the heavy lifting as far as interior decorating for the holiday season is concerned. But sadly, as of late that feels lacking in umph! Presence, and any sort of immersive feeling. So I picked up some items that allowed me to spread the Christmas cheer across the fireplace and into the dining room, and settle on the kitchen island. It’s all one room within 8ft of each other so it’s not hard for just a little bit to go a long way. I brought out old decorations we haven’t used in several years to add to it all. Yeah I’d love to do a whole swap over for the house, but where would we keep all of the towels, mats, trinkets, candles and everything else. I saw we had one mostly empty tote for spill over ornaments, so that’s where the new stuff is going come January 1st. It’s not much, but it feels like something.
I’d love light up boughs, and extra table runners, wooden signs, cookie jars, lanterns and trees. But we have extraordinarily limited floor space, wall space and I’m the one who puts it all up, and takes it all down, so I say no, not right now. I’ll lean into it more as the girls grow older because we won’t be harbouring dolls, doll houses, doll cars, and bins of doll clothes. That’s storage space and floor space I could use for festive holiday cheer. Ha! Right now I’ll settle for music, the tree, and our two table top displays.
I picked up three more weighted stocking hangers so that my wife & I can hang ours too, as well as the dog. Not that he cares all that much. He does pretty well for himself seeing how he’s a dog about to turn three in early December. He hit the lottery as far as I’m concerned.
While it was very frosty and brisk this morning, I found appropriate clothes to wear (laundry was in the wash yesterday morning) so I spent about 75 minutes chopping away and moving pieces around the pile. I could do so much more with a hydraulic splitter, but the real fun comes from the axe swinging. Builds muscles, endurance, and keeps me focused on what I’m doing. Training focus is really important now that phones dominate our lives. Watch that axe head or grievously wound myself. See how that helps to retain, and train for focus.
Day by day the split pile grows by a few pieces, and I tunnel my way further into the giant mound of log segments, waste wood, and useable rounds. I know it doesn’t look like much from the photos but I have travelled a good amount into the centre of the wood pile from the far end. I’d take more videos from within the pile, but I don’t like the sound of my voice on camera, and I’m not as photogenic as that tall guy, or the buff lady that are famous for wood splitting on YouTube. Nobody wants to see my guts giggle while I lazily swing this 8lb maul around. I stop far too frequently to clean up after myself to be any fun to watch. I also curse a blue streak when things don’t want to come apart for me. The sound of the mallet on the wedges is too loud, sounds like gun shots on a quiet morning. No, no, no filming for me. It would be derivative.
It’s Friday the 13th of November 2026. Much of the year is behind us at this point. Still, there could always be a late Q4 surge of paid work to round off the year nicely. You never know. It’s been nearly a month since I applied for a part time job with no word, so that doesn’t look like it’ll pan out. No worries. I can sell wood if I have too! Spirits up. Game faces on. It’s nearly the weekend, so we’ve got that going for us don’t we!?! Hell’s yeah.
