Getting Our Christmas On and Up!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

 

 

Every year, it seems that we start putting up Christmas earlier and earlier.  When I was growing up, we put our tree up the week before Christmas and my dad passed out funny gifts that he picked out for us based on things we had done that year. One year, I made him spaghetti and the recipe called for a cup of onions. I didn’t have real onions, so I put in a whole cup of dehydrated onions. Needless to say, I think we went out to dinner that night. That Christmas I got several jars of dehydrated onions. Another year, my oldest sister was pregnant and dad made a nursing bra that had one white cup and one brown cup and he said it was for white and chocolate milk. I guess looking back, it didn’t make a lot of sense, but we all cracked up when she opened the gift, especially because that sister got embarrassed easily. Growing up, we put up one white tree with green and blue balls (matched the décor) and we had one of those revolving lights that made your tree change colors. I don’t remember much else in the way of decorations and now I put up six trees in my house and almost every room in my house has some decorations. I don’t know how it all happened, but every Christmas I swear we are cutting back next year.

 

Getting all that crap those decorations out of our garage has turned into one of our least favorite days of the year for my husband. He tells me every year his next wife will be Jewish and we usually have a minor setback, disagreement, or incident. One year, in our old house, my husband was in the attic and the next thing we knew his leg came through the ceiling in my daughter’s room. I quickly found out that the correct response in that situation is not, “what did you do that for?” Another year, he painstakingly attached these new candle lights I purchased to our tree and plugged it in to unveil the results.  I took one look and turned into Joan Crawford with her wire hangers…”Blinking lights. You know I hate blinking lights!” and let’s just say those blinking lights never saw another Christmas.

 

A couple of years ago, he tried the old stall tactic on decorating day. I thought we were all ready to start and found my husband in the kitchen slowly sipping (and who was counting) three cups of coffee. Every time I said, “Let’s go, Speedy,” he would say his coffee was still too hot to drink and take a little tentative sip. Finally, he finished with his coffee and I came around the corner and found him eating a piece of string cheese. At that point in time, we had been married 30 plus years and I had never seen my husband eat cheese in the morning, so I knew this was just another calculated delay. I thought about lining some food crumbs through the house and luring him out to the garage, but in the end, I did what I do best, and yelled.

 

The tension continued when John told me I had my sweat pants on inside out. Because we lost so much time with the cheese and coffee, I opted to leave them that way.  This particular year was the first year we were able to view the results of a plan my engineer husband had concocted the previous year. He had decided the year prior to put a different color of tape (4 in all) on the boxes he was putting away and each color represented a different area of the house. It was supposed to make it easier to tell what box went where in the house. This is one of those ideas that sounds good on paper, but in reality was iffy.  Right off the bat, there was a problem locating the tiny piece of tape on each box.  We probably could have used a microscope or a GPS system.  When I asked John if he thought this system up all by himself, he told me to come closer because he just thought of something he would like to tape.

 

Even with this new system, we couldn’t find some of the boxes.  After half of the boxes came down, I started to worry because I did not see any of the foyer boxes.  I put a white tree in my foyer and decorate it with blue, silver, and crystal ornaments and balls.   A woman with her pants on inside out in a panic is not a pretty sight.  I guess I must have asked more than once about those foyer boxes because John started shouting, “I do not have any blue balls….there are no blue balls up here!”   We started laughing, but in the back of my mind I was thinking there might be if he did not find those boxes.   Finally, we got all the boxes down and grouped into the colors.  The last stumbling block happened when John had to locate his notes from the year before because no one knew what tape went with what room.  Luckily, there was no cheese in the garage, so that only took about 30 minutes. 

 

This year, and YES I realize it is too soon, Christmas arrived at our house in mid October. The older John and I are getting, the longer and harder it is becoming to get all of our Christmas decorations down and up around the house. Next year, we are probably going to have to start in July.  John always takes one day off work to help and this year, I tried to give out hugs throughout the day to lighten the mood. Towards the end of the day when I would say, “How about a hug?” he started responding back that he would love a hug as long as I did not care how hard he hugged me back.  By bedtime, we were both hobbling around and fighting over his recliner that has a massage and heat system.

I promised him just about anything that night, if he let me go first in that chair, but we both knew if I could get my tired and hurt body into bed the only leg action I would be doing was elevating them on a pillow.

So, there you have it. Keep in mind, we are not so crazy as to light everything up until my mom, aunt, and uncle arrive sometime next week. The week after is my Cookie party and for my sanity, I just need to have it all done before company arrives.  I do know that every Thanksgiving, when we sit down to dinner, my husband and I always count the fact that we are done decorating as one of our blessings.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Leslie, I love Rudolph and the MIsfits :) Sounds like a rock band..LOL! So far, Fudge and Vern have not bothered one decoration, except with their tails.

Bonnie, You are welcome...LOL! We only have a garage, no attic, so our choice was easy :) One of these days the top of the garage is going to be on the floor, if I keep buying decorations.

Sue, I would love a Christmas house. I love Christmas too :)

Lisa, You are probably right about the meeting..LOL! Someday............

Melody, No dress code when decorating...LOL!

[Leslie and Halas]

Funny! I don't put out nearly the amount of decorations that I used to. There are lots of reasons, but many of them revolve around a certain fluffy someone. I have a lot of Rudolph-Misfit stuffies that he likes to torment. I still put them out, but they provide enough entertainment that I don't have to put much else out.
PS I love the fencing people with their walkers. They should add that to the Senior Olympics.

[Bonnie and Kona]

This is far too true! My biggest disappointment is that I lost the fight over whether to keep the Christmas decorations in the attic of the house (completely inaccessible to me) or the attic of the garage. Thanks for reminding all of us of what we have to look forward to soon enough. ;o)

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Too funny!!! My goal is to eventually have a "Christmas house" so every year, I buy more and more stuff, so my DH doesn't notice....until one year he'll walk into a winter wonderland!!!! I love the Christmas spirit, fighting and all!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Laurie agreed! I would say we only live a state away and should plan something but since neither one of us care to leave our homes we both know how that will go over. :o)

We will just have to be content with cyber sisterhood, at least until I retire, then we can do a meet you in the middle trip and pray our doodles like each other as much as we do.

[Melody & Bruin]

loved the part about your sweat pants being on inside out - done that many times & LEFT THEM THAT WAY just to bug dh!!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sue, I am glad you had a laugh at my expense.....LOL!!! I will try and get some pictures soon. Thank you!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancie, By the time, we get the inside done, all I put up outside is one lighted wreath and a couple of nutcrackers...LOL. My DH gets all the stuff out, but then his part is done too. I do all the decorating. This is the first year, I am feeling like I want to cut back. Good luck!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Carol, Next year, I swear, we are cutting back too. I feel like I neglect my doods when I am running around doing all of this stuff. The funny thing is I could take it all down on Christmas day, the minute the presents are unwrapped, but my family does not like that idea. Your way is the right way, I think :)

Thanks, Lisa. I wish we lived closer. We could meet for dinner and dish...LOL!! It sounds like we married brothers, although we do have fake trees and I am fine with that. He would prefer a live one...LOL!

Anna, LOL

Melody, I wish our garage was big enough to put the trees away decorated. Wouldn't that be nice?

Jane, You are welcome. We are out shopping the day after Thanksgiving. See what you could be doing if you did it earlier...LOL!

Elizabeth, My dogs have not bothered a thing, unless it is with those sweeping tails :) If I get time, I will post pictures. It would be fun to see everyone's decorations.

Jane, I am not telling my DH anything you said about FL or we would be moving there with the gators :)

F, I am glad you liked the pictures. I love the Joan Crawford one and that is what I look like decorating around here :) My DH has said to me several times, "Please go to bed. You need to rest."

 

[Carol and Banjo]

Funny Funny Laurie!!!    Yikes.....this brings back spine shiverig memories!    Over the past 5 years (since the last child left the roost) I've cut WAY back on the Christmas decor.   I had trees of varying sizes in every room (even the bathrooms had little trees!).   We are down to one small tree, lots of garland and carefully placed Santas and other Christmasy decorations in just the main part of the house.    I have to admit when I go into someone's home that is bedecked with all the trimmings I'm a bit envious....but then come the end of January when they are still putting stuff away...I'm out playing with Banjo.   OH!    Now that I think of it....Banjo is responsible for the cut back!   He'd have had a field day with the "old" style of decorating!