And tomorrow…lights
I think I am experiencing some residual jellyfishness. I am getting necessary things done, but my brain still rebels at the thought of planning or being in charge of anything beyond routine tasks. Fortunately Howard likes to cook and so he commanded the preparations for yesterday’s holiday feast. I just followed instructions and made pies.
My big goals for today were to ship out the corrections to the mailing errors, catch up on the laundry, and make sure that the house stays clean rather than reverting to disaster. So far so good. Tomorrow we’ll begin decorating for Christmas. We’ll start with the outside lights because a snow storm and cold snap are due next week. I can put up the tree in snowy weather, but even the smallest bit of snow prevents me from climbing ladders onto my roof. If it were just up to me, we wouldn’t put lights on the outside of our house. I love driving by rows of houses all lit up, but I hate having to be the one to hang the lights. I hate having to pay for the electric bill. But the kids love the lights. I remember loving the lights as a kid and I remember feeling like something was missing on the years that my parents failed to put up outside lights. I think it has been a couple of years since we hung lights outside, so this year I’m going to do it.
I just hate all those strands of lights where for no apparent reason half the strand goes dead. Those lights are not made for troubleshooting. I miss the lights I grew up with which had actual bulbs you could screw into sockets. If one light went dead you had one light out, not half a strand dead. Last year I finally accepted the inevitable and gave away a box full of half lit light strands. I am never going to take the time to figure out which bulb needs to be replaced. That means this year I’m likely to be short on light strands and I’ll have to run to the store to buy more. I can live with that. Maybe I’ll even contemplate buying lights with bulbs. So forecast for tomorrow: Ladders and lights with occasional bouts of grumpiness.
After the outside lights comes the tree. Our Christmas tree is huge. And it requires lights. I don’t think we’ll get the tree up tomorrow. We’ll see.