Christmas Lights and Gifts

12/2/2013

We are just mere days away from celebrating Thanksgiving where we filled out plates with staggering amounts of food and then in true American fashion, most people took a nap!

Yesterday on our way to our favorite discount store (yep that's the one), it seemed like every car we passed had a tree tied to the roof of the car.  There was a time when we did the same thing - and then we bought a truck.  Owning a truck makes a lot of things easier and bringing home a Christmas tree is one of them.  As a side note, they are also good for dump runs!

When we got to Costco (which is still Price Club in my mind), there was a large truck parked near the store which was filled with trees and those trees were being sold right and left.  Inside the store you could buy ornaments, lights, wreaths, wrapping paper and Christmas cards just to name a few of the seasonal must-haves.

Since the boys are all grown up now and Christmas is not really celebrated at our home anymore, we haven't even put up our normal-sized pre-lit regular size fake tree.  We do have our 2 foot tree (also pre-lit) in the den and I enjoy sitting in the dark enjoying the lights from this little tree.  Now friends who know me well, also know that once Christmas is over, this little tree merely moves from the den to another room in the house for the remainder of the year.  I don't try and put it back in its box (partly because you need an advanced degree in something in order to put anything back in its original container).  And I might decide in August, for instance, to enjoy that little tree and the lights.

As for Christmas lights, I have a string of multi-colored lights draped across my fireplace mantel and that string, with possibly a few replacement bulbs from time to time, has been on the mantel for years and years.  I call it my tv light and I turn them on each and every (and I really do mean every) evening.  I may be mere weeks away from turning 64 but I have never stopped loving, and hope I never will, Christmas lights.  

On our way home last night we drove past houses that already had their trees in their living room windows and strings of lights outlining some or all of the house.  Some houses use only one color -  red, green, blue or white lights seem to be the favorites.  I also know that some people only use one bulb color on their trees, but I have always loved multi-colored lights.  If I haven't outgrown my love for Christmas lights by now - then I doubt that I ever will.

Do you remember tinsel?  I guess they still make this annoying stuff but once I had my own home tinsel didn't figure into decorations for the tree.  Growing up Mom always bought new tinsel each year and she expected us children to hang each strand individually on the tree!  When she was around we diligently put up one strand of tinsel at a time.  If she left the room, we resorted to the best and easiest way to put up tinsel - throw the tinsel at the tree and hope that some or all of the strands would actually stay on the tree!  You would have thought that after years of going through this tinsel exercise she would have given up on us kids - but nope she never did. At least at the end of the season, Mom didn't try and put the tinsel back in the box to be saved for next year!  As for me, I grace my trees with garland and when the boys were younger, that included plastic garlands made to look like popcorn and cranberries, because they looked like fun.

So last night with a small list in hand, and a relatively light crowd in the store, I was able to buy several Christmas presents, which are now sitting on top of my formal dining room table and ready to be wrapped - but that's a project for another day!

I guess this is Cyber Monday and all your online retailers are just waiting for your call or electronic order.  After walking around in the stores last night, the thought of doing the rest of my shopping from the chair is very appealing to me and probably to you as well.

This morning I'm going to make a few loaves of pumpkin bread and will probably put one and maybe both of them in the freezer to enjoy later.

Happy Monday.

P