The Halls are Decked...and I am Pooped

I have one minor task left to do on the Christmas decorating, but if I have to look at one more piece of evergreen right now, I will absolutely scream. So it's still curled up on my bed waiting for much later, and I'm sitting here catching a moment of rest before one of my "nieces" arrives for a few hours of QT with Aunt Bekah. I know once she gets here there will be no rest - since she's two and energetic. I'll have her and two angry cats who will be glaring at me for letting someone under four feet tall in the front door.

But for as exhausted as I am after all the decorating, I'm very pleased with the way it all turned out. I started yesterday and completed three trees before I gave up and called it a night. I had to call it a night on the couch because my bed was buried under plastic tubs that had once held the ornaments and lights and garland and...and...and. I enjoy the occasional slumber party on the couch, but last night I was craving a good stretch in a warm bed, not a curled up half-sleep where I had to wake up every time I wanted to turn over. Even so, it was very nice to fall asleep next to a big tree with Christmas specials playing on TV.

This morning when I woke up, I could feel the raw scratches on my arms where I fought with pine needles and pine needles won. I could still feel the very tender goose egg on my right arm where a ladder fell on me. I thought of the tree yet to assemble and said, "I don't think so." I got up, took a shower, threw on some makeup (a lesson well learned yesterday...more on that in a minute) and drove to Big Lots for a mostly assembled tree. I found a skinny little hinged tree that came in a box about a yard long, and $19.08 later, I walked out the door. I came home and had it assembled, fluffed, and lit in about 25 minutes flat. Sure beats the four or so hours it would have taken to mess with the big tree. And it fits the room much better too. I am pleased.

About the makeup...yesterday I didn't put much effort into getting ready because I planned to stay home all day and work on the house. But halfway through the day I ventured out for a coffee drink and the new Christmas CD that David Phelps released this year. When I purchased the CD, I paid by check, and the lady at the register looked at my name and asked who my parents were. I told her and said "Do you know them?" She said yes and then she said, "I think you were a year behind me in school." I need to say this carefully because I could get myself in a whole lotta trouble right before the holidays, but let me just say that I could tell that we were not in the same...class. I said, "Um, maybe you're thinking of my sister?" She said, "Oh yes, the one in Kansas...she was ahead of me. I said, "Well I have another sister too." After a few more explanations, we clarified that I was BORN the year before she graduated, not actually in the class behind her. Clearly some makeup was necessary and I won't be making that mistake again.