Christmas Eve'ing

The fire is embers now and it's 9:30. It's been a great Christmas Eve. I was wondering how it would go. My son, who is in his adolescent funk..... and my daughter, who is in her pre-adolescent funk... experiencing our first Christmas Eve without daddy.

They didn't fight.

He was in a good mood. She was in a good mood.

We built a fire. We were going to go drive around and look at lights—me and Jessie, but Jason didn't want us to go... nor did he want to accompany; so Jessie agreed we could stay home.

They are in bed now and I have a lot to do.

Here are some pics of the night.








Jessie, in her room watching High School Musical 2.





Jason playing his PSP not wanting to be photographed.....








and running from me and my camera.














The kids played and had a pillow fight. Amazingly it didn't end with someone crying.






Jessie being the ham she is.























Our tree.

Dang it, you can't see the lights. It's a beautiful tree filled with memories and hopes.



It's been such a nice night.

No tools required

I wanted to get Dale a really good gift.

He said he wanted a Skil Saw, and I got him one, but I wanted to get him something else. Something he would like that he didn't ask for.

I had no clue what to get, so I asked his best friend Mike and he suggested a grill. What a great idea I thought. He needed a new grill. His old one was falling apart.

I went to Home Depot first and then Lowes to check out the inventory. Lowes had a nice gas grill. It was smaller than his old one, but very nice and in my price range. I decided to purchase it unassembled because I wasn't sure it would fit in my jeep, and, besides, the box said "No tools required."

How hard could that be?

I didn't get around to assembling it until the last minute. It was Thursday afternoon and the kids were going to David's. I had to assemble it now because I would be with Dale on Thursday and Friday and we had planned to exchange gifts on Saturday.

So it was 4:30 on Thursday afternoon and I had to leave to take the kids to David's at 5:40. That should be enough time to assemble the grill I thought.

I dragged the box into the living room (it was very heavy) and proceeded to unpack the pieces... pulling off cardboard and plastic and tossing it to the side. After I got all the pieces unloaded, it looked like a cardboard factory had exploded in my living room.

I was beginning to have doubts assembling this thing. I didn't realize there would be so many pieces. Then I saw the 2 bags containing all the screws, bolts, washers, etc. There must have been 100 of them.

I stared at the instructions in disbelief. What have I done? But I only had about 45 more minutes to spend before having to leave.

I set about trying to assemble the first 2 pieces and couldn't. I got half of it done but the other half wouldn't line up. In the meantime, the kids had taken over the box that everything came in and were in the process of fighting about who was gonna get inside.

By the time 5:40 rolled around, I was completely stressed out and had accomplished nothing. I couldn't even get past instruction #1. I decided to pack everything back into the box and take it back. I called Lowes and explained my problem to Brian, who said to just bring it back.

After spending another 5 minutes trying to get the kids out of the box, I began the process of trying to put all the pieces BACK into the box. I managed to get them back in, but it was nowhere near the same way they came out.

And, in the rush to get the car loaded and the kids out of the house, I forgot to bring the receipt. The guys at Lowe's were terrific, however. They took my box of parts and sent it back to be assembled and let me pick one from the inventory they had out front.... and they did it all so that no receipt was required. Thank goodness for that!

I took the grill over to Dale's Friday morning after he had left for work and set it next to his deck hoping that he would not notice it. He didn't. Then I wrapped up a note telling him to go look out his back deck. I gave it to him last night and he liked it, so it was all worth it.

Lessons learned: 1) NEVER buy anything like that unassembled; 2) If I ever do, NEVER wait until the last minute to assemble it.

Christmas queries

I stole this questionnaire thingy from my cousin's blog. She participates in a group of bloggers who do "Fun Mondays" which gives a topic and each person writes a blog about that topic as well as things like this. I have never participated in the past because -- as you well know -- I am not a reliable blogger. I liked this one however so here goes.....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper usually because it's more cost effective; but I do the gift bag thing as well because I absolutely HATE to wrap presents. In fact, anyone who receives a present wrapped by me will notice how much unattention to detail it gets. Unlike David, who spends enormous amounts of time wrapping presents so that each crease and fold is perfect or my mom who uses the most beautiful paper and handmade bows and such to wrap presents that you don't even want to open because it is so pretty, I prefer to slap on the paper, tape the shit out of it and stick on a bow (a self-adhesive bow mind you). Sometimes I move the bow around or even attach two if I am feeling crazy. And forget the cute tag; I often just write directly on the present.

2. Tree--Real or Artificial? I have an artificial tree. I grew up with live trees and love them... the smell, the drama of getting it set up and decorated. But when the kids were very small, David and I bit the bullet and purchased an artificial tree. I felt like a traitor at first but the feeling soon wore off. After all, it is great to just drag it out of the closet and assemble it each year without worrying about having to pay $50+ for a tree that will begin to shed after a few weeks and leave little pieces of tree all over the carpet. Having said that, though, this tree is about 14 years old now and the color coded branch system used to assemble it is shot and it has begun to shed pieces of fake pine needles all over my carpet. Maybe next year I'll get a real one.

3. When do you put your Christmas tree up? Usually the second weekend in December. I cringe when I see trees up immediately after Thanksgiving and cringe even more so when I see the few that go up after Halloween. Yuck!

4. When do you take the tree down? Historically, around February but never before New Years. One year the tree stayed up until April. Neither David or I wanted to deal with taking it down and it was in an "out-of-the-way" spot so we just ignored it. This year, I will take down the tree right after New Years. It's quite big and the living room isn't!

5. Like egg nog? Nope.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? No.

7. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't remember a favorite gift but I always thought getting our stockings was the most magical thing about Christmas. My sister and I would wake up very early, like 4am early, and go get our stockings. We would then go to one or our bedrooms and check out the loot! Then we would go back to sleep until the parents woke up.

8. Hardest person to buy for? It used to be my uncle Gary, but we don't exchange gifts anymore. He is the type of person who never needs anything. This year it's Dale. I don't really know him well enough but have some ideas. For me, the hardest thing about buying presents is actually giving up what I get for people because I tend to buy things I like.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Jessica.

10. Worst Christmas gift? It was a country-style sort of wooden contraption for the bathroom that held rolls of toilet paper. God it was awful.

11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. Never get tired of watching it... except on Christmas eve day when they show it for 24 hours straight.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually around mid-December. This year I am ahead of the game.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, but I once received a present from my aunt that I gave her several years prior. I bought her this really neat ceramic bowl (well, neat to me) and about 4 years later she gave it back to me for Christmas. I guess she forgot I was the one who gave it to her. I didn't care though because, like I said, I tend to buy gifts that I personally like.

15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Collard greens, squash casserole, deviled eggs. I generally don't eat those foods unless it's Thanksgiving or Christmas.

16. Clear or colored tree lights? Colored, with NO blinking.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Don't know the name, but it's the one that they use with the Garmin commercials (Crap that's so bad). I also LOVE the Christmas album by the Kingston Trio.

18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? Stay home. My employer (FSU) closes the week between Christmas and New Years so it would be an optimal time to travel if I had the money.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeers? Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph...okay, I can't remember the stupid song.

20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Growing up, we always had a peace sign made out of tin foil on top of the tree. This year I have a dove or bird of peace-type ornament.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Just like when I was young, Jason and Jessica are allowed to open one present on Christmas eve.... a present that I pick. When I was young, I always seemed to open underwear or PJs, but I have never done that to my kids! (sorry mom).

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People. I am very antisocial. I can't stand crowds.

Eating my words

Okay, despite all my ranting, I put up Christmas lights today.

I wanted to outline the house with lights so I went to Walmart and bought a 96-foot strand of multi-colored lights. It was a toss up between multi-colored or all blue, which is a look I absolutely LOVE. I also bought a multi-colored net of lights for my hedge which runs the length of my house save the front door stoop and garage.

So I was ready to decorate. I eagerly opened the box and pulled out a tangle of lights. Seriously, it was a tangle. And I didn't know how it was supposed to untangle.

I struggled with it for about 10 minutes, pulling and twisting the wire until I had somewhat of a net in front of me.

Awesome.

I threw it over the hedge in triumph. Only it was way too small. It only covered about 1/4 of the hedge, at best.

This netting costs $9 a box and I estimate I will need at least 4 boxes to cover my hedge. Well that's not gonna happen... that would mean spending $36 just to cover the hedge. Instead, I draped the net of lights on the very small hedge in front of my garage.

It looks good, but it is highly inadequate compared to the houses around me. I have more decorating to do in order to "get off the porch and run with the big dogs."

I still have the 96-foot strand to put up. I think I will drape my big hedge rather than trying to outline the house.

God help me, I guess I am one of them.

Merry Christmas

There are at least 2 houses on my street that have Christmas lights up.

It's the beginning of December people.

And, in the Christmas spirit, a plethora of houses in my subdivision literally exploded into decoration (like popcorn) the day after Thanksgiving.

Merry Christmas.

Daily, I see cars with trees attached to their rooftops. The trees are prey shot in the hunt and brought back as trophy. I laugh to myself knowing that those trees will most likely be dead by Christmas. Needles everywhere.

How long does a cut tree last anyway? Don't answer that.

I absolutely HATE the commercialism of Christmas.

I hate it.

I hate it that people put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving.

I hate it that I have to hear commercials advertising the "After Thanksgiving Sale" 4 days prior.

I hate it that I will hear the "After Christmas" sales commercials on December 15th.

Not only do I hate... I refuse.

I refuse to get up at 4 am the day after Thanksgiving just so I can save 25%.
(Okay, I did this once. It was a mad house I tell you).

I refuse to be pressured to put my tree up any sooner than the second weekend in December.

I refuse to be told what decorations I can display on the outer regions of my house. I hear some subdivisions REQUIRE that you decorate with only white lights.

Merry Christmas.

Headliners

I've been collecting stupid or odd headlines for a while now. I'm sure I've missed a ton but I saw this one just now and had to post it:

• Divorce is bad for the environment, researchers say

Whaa?????

Here are some more (older ones) I've collected:

• Hugh Grant avoids charges over 'baked beans attack'
• Paula Abdul trips over dog, breaks nose
• Boom Separates From Base With Two People Inside
• Neighborhood May Be Infested With Meat-Eating Lizards
• O.C. Police Say Man Tried to Pay Store Tab With Pot
• Lawn-loving man gets life for murder
• Calif. town asking grandmothers to help fight gangs

I don't know. I think that the first one is my fav.

Out of the Mist

Driving up Bannerman on my way to work this morning I could see clear skies ahead. The view from my rear view mirror, however, was not good. It was ominous.... dark and dreary; and it was encroaching my rear quickly.

Very quickly.

It wasn't even dark when I turned from my subdivision onto Bannerman. But now, only 2 miles up the road, there was an eerie presence behind me.

I glanced back and forth from rear view to front view. It was so eerie. It reminded me of The Mist. I had just seen it yesterday. Supposed to be the "scariest" movie of the year. Well, it wasn't. It was kind of suspenseful but totally predictable.... and full of gore.

The Mist is about a mist that comes out of the mountains and overtakes a small town in Somewhere, USA. It is full of monsters spider-like creatures that devour the unsuspecting and stupid townfolk.

Anyway, I turned right onto Thomasville Road fully expecting the darkness that was behind me to now be on my right. But it wasn't. It was behind me still.

That is weird, I thought to myself. I looked to my right and it was basically clear.

I continued down Thomasville and the darkness followed but never overtook me.

After about 7 miles, the wind picked up and there was a flurry of leaves swirling all around the car. Violently swirling. Just like the monster bugs from The Mist.

And there was just a sprinkle of rain.

As I approached I-10, the wind died down. The leaves were gone. The darkness was gone.

Then it poured down rain.

The way we were

OMG, you have to read this blog:

http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2007/10/strap-in-shut-up-and-hold-on-were-going.html.

I found out about it from my cousin Sarah's blog and she found out about it from her brother's blog. This is one of the funniest things I have ever read and so true..... I remember the 70s.