Trying for a bright Christmas

This year for Christmas the only thing I wanted to get done was the decorations. I didn't care if I mailed Christmas cards, bought and exchanged gifts, or even cooked a meal on Christmas day. All I wanted was to get the tree up, the lights outside, and buy two poinsettias for the coffee table. Everything else was moot.

I didn't do it all on my own, though. I had amazing help. Dan helped me with the outside lights over two days. Climbing trees like a monkey man in temperatures that kept me running inside to "check on something" every five minutes, When we pulled the lights for outside, every string that Steve and I had used in previous years, every single string, was burnt out. Luckily, a couple of years ago I went out and bought every surplus set of stringed lights I could get my hands on at seventy-five percent off. By the time that particular price point came around, all that was available were red lights. My house doesn't quiet look like a Christmas whore house but it's a near miss.

A few days later Holly came over to help me get the tree set up. It's a giant task because when Steve finally caved to the fact that live trees give me hives, he bought the best fake tree he could find. It comes in three pieces, has fiber optics and came pre-strung with thousands of multi-colored lights. Guess what happened after putting it together and plugging it in? Yep. Nearly every string was burnt out. So we pulled off all the lights, I went out the the garage to grab more surplus lights, and now my inside tree is red too.

It's truly starting to look like a hoochie house around here.

If Dan hadn't been with me when I realized all the outside lights were burnt out, I would have cried, given up and gone back inside. If Holly hadn't been with me three days later when I realized the same about my Christmas tree I'd still be curled in a ball rocking and humming to myself while hiding under the bed. Instead, I laughed. I laughed and blamed my husband.

Christmas was Steve's favorite holiday. He liked it bright, tacky, and loads of fun. He liked it so damn much he took my freaking Christmas lights with him. And maybe he was sending me a message: time to do something new for Christmas. So on Christmas day, while everyone else is unwrapping gifts, watching the kids get hopped up on sugar and eating their special meal; I'll be working at the local soup kitchen handing out gifts and new coats. It's a little scary switching things up like this, but these days everything is scary. I've gotten this far because of all the wonderful people in my life - it's time I give back.

----------------------------------------------------

Just a few pictures from the Christmas tree this year. Everything looks pink because of the red lights on the tree. Don't blame me. Blame Steve. He's the one who stole my lights.

A gift for our first Christmas from Steve's brother Butch. I keep the card he and his wife sent with this ornament in it's box. Every year it was the first ornament on the tree - after the placing of our two dozen small disco balls, that is.

Since Elvis drove us to and sang at our wedding, I bought a little Elvis to hang on the tree for our first Christmas. This Elvis looks a little girly to my eyes but I figure it's only fair. The Elvis that worked our wedding wore more makeup than all the woman there put together.

We picked this little pink monkey up during our trip to China. I've always been known as the monkey in my family and Steve got a great kick out of trying to increase my collection. Funny. Now when I look at monkeys I think of Steve.

 

For several years I cross stitched ornaments for the family. One year I made little stockings. All of them had a rose theme - a play off their last name. This one I made specifically for Steve. He loved all my creations and took great pride that I had learned needlework at my grandmother's knee.

Steve bought me donkey because he's a scooch. And I love any fellow scooch I can find.

This little white bird I bought a week ago for my Steve. He liked birds, had a couple as pets as a child. Our tree in the backyard is covered in bird feeders. We enjoyed sitting on the back deck and watching them go at it. I think of them as Steve's birds. I guess I think of Steve whenever I see a bird. Looks like I have something new to collect. My house is going to look like the wild kingdom.