‘Tis the Season

I am, undeniably, a Christmas enthusiast. I love the season and all that goes along with it – the baking and the decorating, the entertaining and the family traditions. I try to always set aside the month of December to indulge my holiday passions.

In spite of years and years of experience in Christmasing, there always seem to be unforeseen glitches. I could write a book about things that have not gone “smoothly.” For example the year I spent two days decorating a tree only to walk downstairs on the third day to find that the tree had fallen over during the night. Thinking that I could just grab the trunk and pull it upright by myself (!!!???) I tried, only to get stuck with the tree half way up and half way down. I couldn’t let it go – it would smash hundreds of lights and heirloom ornaments and I wasn’t strong enough to pull it all the way up. So, I frantically shouted for help to Jack, who was still in bed. He finally heard me and understood that I needed help. What he didn’t understand was that I needed immediate help so he says, “I’ll be there in a few minutes, let me find my glasses and go to the bathroom and get dressed…..” Both the Christmas spirit and my marriage survived that crisis but it’s one I would prefer not to repeat.

So this year, I was prepared. I started early because next week is that “other holiday,” (aka Thanksgiving) which I like just fine but it’s not Christmas. All year I’ve been thinking about stringing lights around my new garden arbor and lining the front walkway with lights. At the Botanical Gardens I noticed they lined all the paths with lights on 3 foot poles with small loops at the top.

In a moment of brilliance, I thought – I could use the stakes that are part of the peony supports. Great! I pulled them out, placed them along the walkways and began pulling the strands of lights through them. I didn’t get very far. The loops were too little and I couldn’t get the plugs at the end of the strands through them. Hmmm. Off to Home Depot to get plant supports with BIGGER loops. Yay! success. Sort of. Except for the fact that they were so flimsy the cords pulled them over. Undaunted, I went back to Home Depot and got sturdy stakes to place beside and support the flimsy ones. Done! I lined both sides of the front walk and rushed back to throw the switch and watch magic happen. Which it half way did – half the lights, left over from years past, didn’t light up. A little daunted by now, I went BACK to Home Depot and bought new lights, restrung them and cautiously turned them on and I’m happy to say that All is Bright.

So at this point, in my very first 2024 Christmas decorating venture, I’m about $60 and four hours into it and all I have is two strands of lights lining the front walk and a couple of net lights thrown over the boxwood. To be sure, they look nice and festive but at this rate, I should have started all this in August. Right now, the best thing that I can say about this Christmas season is that fortunately, Home Depot is only 2.2 miles from my house!

I know that there will be more glitches as the holiday progresses, and more stories to tell and more laughing -about-it-later episodes but I love it anyway. It truly is my favorite time of the year.