How can you tell Halloween is just around the corner? Stores start putting out their Christmas decorations.
Today was a challenge! Our cleaning folks come tomorrow, and we have to have the house clean before they arrive or at least in a condition where they can do their cleaning activities.
No swim spa this morning! At 6:28 AM, we were up just before the Sun and hit the floor running. My first order of business was to raise the Christmas Flag! 6:29 AM in the morning and I am in my jammies playing with the flags!
I began to move boxes from the garage containing my Christmas decorations. This year is exciting; we are putting our things together! Oops, that sounds like fun!
Thanksgiving came down and Christmas went up!
The two-wheeled cart was working overtime, straining at the axel with boxes everywhere. You could almost smell burning rubber as I turned the corner from the garage into the long hallway; hey, I said, “almost.”
We started opening boxes when I yelled out to Mary, “What do you call a Christmas decoration made of 100 dollar bills?” She gave me the “Mommy Look,” and I cringed away, hid behind a stack of boxes to evade the potential hand swipe, and said, in my most romantic voice, “Aretha Franklin.”
Then the fight started!
PAul had 24 boxes of Christmas in stackable containers!
Last year we decorated our homes with our own things individually, but I got to see hers, and she saw mine, so today, there were no surprises! We work well together; maybe it is because we believe in the same things!
Our secret!
Mary and I opened boxes and took the contents to where we thought they might go; at the end of the day, we had walked at least 12,000 steps and never left the house (except we walked Five Miles about mid-morning).
The counter was packed all day long. It was a staging area. It also doubled as a toy field hospital.
I did go outside one more time to meet my Amazon Driver; we meet almost every day. He looked worried today because we put up mistletoe over the front door.
While I was outside, I saw two of my neighbors and introduced myself. I made a request. I said to them, “Those of you who are planning to place Christmas lights/decorations in your yards, can you please avoid anything red or blue and flashing?”
They looked puzzled, and then I explained, “Every time I drive by, I think it’s the police and have a panic attack. I have to take my foot off the accelerator, toss my beer, swallow a handful of breath mints, put on my very dark glasses, fasten my seat belt, throw my phone on the floor, turn my radio down, change channels to Christmas music instead of rap, and push the gun under the seat. It’s too much for me to do on such short notice.”
This display is a field hospital!
I played doctor today! Mary, nurse Ratchet, kept bringing me electric toys that did not work. I saved most of them using my surgical skills to extract corroded batteries and clean their contacts. But alas, some of the patients did not make it. The cute toys were still put out for display, and the not-so-cute went to the donation box.
The decorations requiring glue to fix broken parts were next on my surgical schedule. I had glue for ceramics, glue for wood, and super glue. By the end of my first operating day, everything was glued together including my thumb to my forefinger!
In the middle of a complex operating procedure, Mary asked me to pass her lipstick, but I accidentally passed her a glue stick instead, She still isn’t talking to me.
Dr. Liles had a large box of new batteries, connection cleaners, and other emergency gear.
In the afternoon, things we starting to take shape. We were getting nods of approval from Scout, The Wonder Dog, especially if they looked like something good to eat.
It’s starting to come together.
Some rooms were still a work in progress. We plan to attack the dining room before the cleaning folks show up at 8:30 AM tomorrow.
Oops, we still have work to be here.
Zack will come over this week and put the TV on the wall, so we have space underneath for the Christmas City; we have a load of Christmas houses we put on cotton (snow) complete with street lights, etc. We even have a Christmas outfit for our cleaning robot; we are strange!
Grandpa feels like he is part f Christmas now.
Almost every surface is covered with decorations, and we both seem to enjoy the same things; we also found out we have many identical decorations we picked up over the years; this has got to mean something.
This year we did not get a tree because last year, we had a problem.
Well, Mary asked me to provide some holiday decorations for her home.
I eagerly headed out for decorations and returned several hours later.
Mary looked very perplexed with my cleverly made selection. In the corner of her living room stood a Christmas tree with only a few needles, and on it is a bullet on a string.
She was amazed and exclaimed that she specifically told me to get Christmas decorations and then said, “What the heck is this?”
I, attempting to attract her with my decorating skills, calmly replied, “Well dear, that is a cartridge in a bare tree.”
We listened to Christmas music all-day things to Echo. Yes, we danced carefully around the messes!
We dance everywhere, even in the middle of the decorating mess!
The Living Room/TV Room was looking pretty good, but we still have lights to repair.
The front room is almost ready.
It was getting dark, and we were getting hungry. I went to the garage to see what else needed to come in and then stacked all the empty boxes on the patio and when I returned, Santa Cook has visited. Mary made a wonderful dinner for us.
Dinner time; Mary makes excellent dinners.
We enjoyed a nice rest and spent time talking about our Christmas plans; we are busy every day, and our daughter, Colleen, is coming on the 8th, YEA!!!! A kid home for Christmas!
Almost too pretty to eat, but we managed it.
After dinner, we went to the swim spa for a well-deserved rest. We made progress today! I even took the opportunity to ask Mary, “Which Christmas decorations are the grumpiest?” Oh boy, perhaps I should have withdrawn my question. Mary’s eyes glazed over, she took away my wine glass, she made funny sounds and finally said, “OK, what???” I moved to the farthest corner away from her potential reach and murmured, “The ornery-ments.” Then the fight began!
We soaked for an hour until we were becoming prunes and then headed to the TV to watch a Hallmark TV Christmas movie. We are batting 100%; we didn’t make it past the first 15 minutes. It is now taking us an average of three days to watch an hour and a half movie!
Mary keeps saying, “Better is the enemy of good enough”. Well, I attempted one more try at humor. I hunkered down beneath the covers, place the pillow where I was most vulnerable, and whispered, “Who broke all the Christmas decorations?” I heard a groan; I knew she was ready. I whispered, “Santa Klutz.” Then the fight started!
Good night all!
