Today is warm which is a welcome change from the freezing weather we’ve had all week. It was so cold the water in the bucket where the tree sat outside froze. Even the dog didn’t want to be outside for too long. 

The tree is up and the lights are on. The rest will happen today. I did notice the tree leans a bit in the stand. I tried to open the pedal on the stand and hold the tree, but it seemed risky. I need a bit of help. I’m hoping to see my neighbor get home from work so I can ask him to help. If not, my tree will lean just a bit. 

I was worried that my to do list was too long for me to get everything done, but I’m doing a great job. Besides decorating the tree, I need to shop for a few ingredients, wrap my sister’s presents and make cookies, but I have a whole week on the cookies. I’ll wrap her gifts tomorrow as I’ll be seeing her on Sunday for the play. I think I’ll end up with a few days of rest, of sitting in the living room looking at my tree, listening to Christmas carols and drinking egg nog out of my moose mug. 

When I was a kid, everything we did added to the excitement of Christmas. The two times a day delivery of mail meant receiving so many Christmas cards we could hang them on a string which stretched across the whole living room wall. My brother and I looked through the Sears catalog just about every afternoon. I would circle what I wanted from Santa, but I changed my mind so many times the pages were messy with circles crossed out and new ones added. We stenciled the picture window with outlines of Santa and Christmas trees. We made our own ornaments using construction paper and crayons. We’d also cut the construction paper into strips which we strung together to make a garland. We made paper mâché ornaments using flour glue, that gloppy paste made from flour, water and a touch of salt. I loved my fingers covered in stiff glue. My favorite of all the things we did was decorating cookies. We’d crowd around the kitchen table. My mother would put different colored frosting in bowls on the table. We each had a spreader. We liberally covered the cookies in icing. That didn’t matter. They still tasted delicious. 

Christmas is still filled with wonder for me. I stop to look at houses covered in lights. I smile every time I see my tree. In many ways I am still that kid who loved all of Christmas, and I’m glad for it. 

This entry was posted on December 14, 2018 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.