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Posts in category Everyday Life
Colored Lights, etc.
Written by So we’re having this holiday fair in my neighborhood and my next door neighbor Brooke is organizing it all. She has this love of all things crafty and wanted to find a way to get people out for the holidays. Since the majority of the activity surrounds our 2 houses, she said she wanted to really decorate the outside a lot this year. Sure thing, got my lights up on Saturday. Oh but then! THEN she had to mention a possible contest for the best decorated house and THEN IT WAS ON. I’m horribly competitive and I want to win. MUST. WIN. I drive my family nuts with this burning desire to always win.Â
Now, I’m not willing to sabotage anyone else’s efforts but I’m also not above cheating. Last night, I went to Target and got more lights. Because that’s what the house needed. MORE! LIGHTS! I’d always wanted to string some around the front windows but I have no way to attach them. But Brooke suggested using suction cups with hooks on the windows and then quickly kicked herself for helping me. While I was outside putting the new lights up (they need work as my hyper-perfectionist tendencies took over), she was leaving to go get dinner for her family. She backed up and rolled down the window.
“Whatcha doin’ out there?”
“NOTHING!”
“You bought more lights, didn’t you?”
“Maybe! Maybe not”
“You know it IS ON, right?”
“You are going down!!” And I stood outside, in the cold, stringing lights around my bedroom window because dang it, I was going to win a contest that doesn’t even exist yet.
 And Rob still wants to marry me. Happy Holidays indeed!
Um. Christmas? Sounds good.
So Kristi tells me that I should write something today, something about festive goings-on that doesn’t involve whining about the move. Which I’ve been pretty good at doing this week.
So, Christmas.
It was never a big priority in my family. Dad had had some bad experiences connected to Christmas in his early manhood, so had abandoned the holiday for years; following that, the seventies, eighties and nineties found my parents shifting around in their religious faith a lot, with Christmas being celebrated sporadically at best in our house. Then they started celebrating Hanukkah in the early nineties, right about the time my brother and I moved out on our own. That pretty much brought Christmas celebrations in my family to a final halt. I have very thin relationships with my extended family, who all live far away; few of my friends celebrate Christmas much, either. So it just withered on the vine.
Florida also isn’t the place for a traditional Christmas. It’s still pretty warm in December. It’s crowded, and people move in and out constantly; most people here have never met their neighbors. The mass consumerism is out of control. Here in the Sunshine State, we’re a theme park surrounded by shopping malls – the holiday season isn’t much more than an economic event in Florida.
So over the last fifteen years, I’ve rarely done anything for Christmas. Never owned a tree, rarely bought (or received) presents, got used to it as just a day when absolutely everything was closed. I long ago stopped feeling much about it, one way or another. Just another day.
Recently Kristi asked me, when was the last time I remember actually going out and doing something for Christmas?
Umm.. I suppose the closest one would be 1999. I’d been living in Tampa for six months, hadn’t thought to stock the fridge, needed some food. The only place that was open was a China Buffet, so I went and ate Dragon Chicken and then caught a movie.
Kristi wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
So she assures me that I will have a proper Christmas this year, with lights and a tree and stockings and everything else. I’m looking forward to it. Not entirely sure what a traditional Christmas is supposed to look like anymore, but I am looking forward to it.
Christmas is coming!
When my 18 year old cousin Alyssa was little, she used to sing this song. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat! After which, she would attempt to put money on my grandpa’s head.Â
After all of the Thanksgiving festivities died down, it was time to start the Christmas stuff. I love Christmas, and not just for the presents. My birthday comes in December too which was something I hated as a child and now quite enjoy. The day after Thanksgiving usually involves taking the decorations out of the attic and decking the halls at my mom’s house. This year was no different. They called about 11am and asked if I could come help with the tree. Instead of shopping, we do decorating. It’s much more fun and way cheaper.
My dad came over on Saturday and helped me put up lights outside at my house. The rest of the decorating will wait for Rob to be here on the 7th. We’re having a holiday street faire in my neighborhood this year so we have to be ready for the 8th with all the wonders of the season. Rob hasn’t decorated for Christmas in a long time so we get to enjoy doing the tree, the stockings, the nativity, all of it, together. It’s a wonderful time to share together and I’m happy to have his help. I’m still getting used to the idea of having someone to help me do things around the house. My parents are great about lending a hand but a lot of time, I end up doing things myself. If I can’t do something or don’t know how, my dad usually does and he’ll pop over for a few hours.Â
It will be exciting to figure out our own family traditions. We are starting our own things and while it can be overwhelming sometimes, it’s a wonderful time for Rob to be here, to be a part of this family.Â