You haven’t lived until you’ve stared down death, spiders and Christmas lights from the top of a 15 foot ladder. There was also a deserted birds nest, and a sock full of sand.
Of course you realized I was putting up my Christmas lights yesterday, which is why I could not post and poor Carrie had to wander around in a daze in her pantry clutching toilet paper and muttering about potatoes vs stuffing. sad.
Meanwhile, I was perched precariously atop my ladder, hooking icicle lights to my roof. I also decked out two trees, the fence, some dirt, the front steps, the front door, several bushes…..and possibly the cat.
This was my first year doing this. Usually, Blair and one of our kids outlines the roof, I hang a wreath and outline the front picture window and we call it good enough. I don’t know why, but despite Blair’s announcing he had too much homework to put up the lights this year, I really, really wanted those things up. And with the help of Melinda, they went up. And somehow, we couldn’t stop once we got started. We kept thinking of more and more new places to hang lights! We started with the front porch….and then we did the bushes. Once the bushes were hooked up, we didn’t feel we could not do the tree….and the other tree….and then the fence looked naked. Then we thought, may as well do the house. We lined the front steps just to finish things up.
I know, I know, you’re asking yourself, where the heck does a sandy sock fit into all this?
Well, I’ll tell you, a few weeks ago, we saw something on the roof. Thought it might be a leftover patch of snow. A few warm days later, we were thinking, a rock maybe?
When I headed up to the roof, Blair suggested I retrieve the mysterious object. Our 12 yr old, Dan, actually did the honors, announcing the URO (unidentified roof object) to be a sock, Hanes brand actually, filled with sand.
Blair thought it was weird, I thought it was just about the way our life goes.
(Blair also thinks it’s weird when the kids leave a light on or their shoes out…..)
Anyhoo…..the light are up and on. The tree is assembled and decked. The stockings are in a heap on the couch. I have actually already squirreled away a few gifts for various family members, and have listened to a few Christmas tunes. I guess I’m just about ready for the most wonderful time of the year, next to school starting, to be underway.
I just have one more thing….
I’m gonna need you to drive past my little Christmasy Cottage and tell me how great it looks:)
