STILL WORKING ON STORING CHRISTMAS STUFF AWAY - BUT ALMOST THERE AND WOULD BE IF NOT FOR A RUBIK'S CUBE

 My goodness – where did January and February go?!!!

I finished a partnership tax return which is due by March 15. I still have to get back the power of attorney form from client – signed – so I can prepare her business's state exemption form. And – I have to prepare sales tax returns for all 3 businesses by March 20!

I am actually almost finished actually storing away the inside Christmas decorations. I had 2 large filled plastic boxes of inside decorations (as opposed to the tree decorations which were already put away). Being lazy I hate to make down the stairs and up again trips so they were sitting in the dining room. As I go down to change down to change laundry loads I have taken the two boxes down – last one just went down. Also took down the last couple of small fabric decorations which had been missed when the box they are stored in was filled. I do have a box left with a glass domed beaded tree (which I had made some years ago) in it and a smallish plastic Santa of Robert's from when he was a buy both of which I will take downstairs on later trips down for the laundry.

That leaves 3 decorative boxes which have to go to the closet in the Teddys' room with items I don't want stored in the basement as wax (would melt in basement) or otherwise need better care than the basement. Of course this is not easy this year. I have our suitcases which store in the bottom of the same closet out in the middle of that room. We no longer use them as we travel in our small RV, but have kept them as we like them, just in case we need suitcases in the future. (For example if one of us, God forbid, had to go to the hospital.) I took the suitcases out to solve a storage problem in our bedroom. Husband has more clothes than should go in his dresser than he can fit in same. Most of them he does not wear and a good percentage of them do not fit him (no, too big – not too small) but he does not want to get rid of them. The clothes he actually wears – such as his pjs – are sitting on top of his dresser. I came up the idea of storing the clothing he is not wearing and wants to keep in – yes – the suitcases. I got the suitcases out, but he needs me to help back them so they are in the middle of the Teddys' room until we get a chance to pack the clothes away – so there is no easy access to the closet. Oh, add in, part of the Teddy Village blocks the door to that room into the open position and the closet is, of course, behind that door – so I have to be able to move that section of the room into the room where the suitcases are to be able to put the suitcases and these Christmas boxes back. It is all sort of like a room sized Rubik's cube! But every step I take in all of this gets us that closer to being finished.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is amazing what a puzzle storage can be and what needs to be moved to get this or that to store it away or take it out.

MORE THINGS TO DO - AS ALWAYS INCLUDING NEW SETUP FOR CHRISTMAS TREE AND DECORATIONS

 To pick up where I left off – 2 weeks ago – I finished my class and exams in 3 days.

We were way behind in decorating inside the house for Christmas. I used to do almost all of it, but in more recent years husband has been helping me. (“Don't climb up on that step stool, I'll put it on the tree for you.)

Our living room has changed over the past year. Back in my April 6 post I wrote about husband buying a small “big screen” TV. I was not happy about (and still am not). This involved rearranging our living room. We were careful to figure out how we would deal with our Christmas tree and decorations both in the living room and also in our dining room as a piece of furniture which used to pushed (it is on wheels) from the living room to the dining room to make room for the tree in the living room and holds a smaller tree in the living room – but could not longer be saved moved as it would be under the tree.

Moving a coffee table from the back of the living room to the dining room instead of the chest that cannot no longer be pushed there went fine. The tree went up in the new space at the back of the living room – doing well, it's working. Then we started putting the ornaments on the tree. I usually put them in a groupings – all the angels at the top of the tree, bear ornaments in one area, TV/movie characters in another area, souvenir ornaments in yet another area and so on. This was not working and we ended up just putting ornaments on the tree. We had a number of ornaments we did not put on the tree as we gave up – not enough room? A couple of days later I realized the problem – in its old location the tree used to have two “fronts”. Huh? Well the tree faced into the living room – a “front” of the tree. The side of the tree faced our entry way – another “front” of the tree. In the back of the living room it faced into the room – one “front” but two of the other sides faced side walls with no easy view of them and the last side faced the windows. Aha! There is less space for ornaments to be featured!

I have all sorts of Christmas decorations I put around the living room, kitchen and dining room – and a few I put in our entry hall. They hang from things, sit on things, etc. I started putting them out. I did okay in the kitchen – changed the decorations sitting on our window sill to the Christmas ones which belong there. Changed out some mugs from our travel mug collection for Christmas mugs.

I moved on to the dining room. I did not have the energy to put fake greens on the light fixture – so I just hung the “kissing ball” from the bottom of same. I set up the small Christmas tree we setup in there. We belong to Colonial Williamsburg and get an annual ornament from them – these go on this tree. Our dining room is decorated as a 18^th century tavern room so a tree is not really correct in there – but they are ornaments of 18^th century things. Normally this tree would go on the box wheeled from the living room, but the new plan was for it to go on the coffee table from there the main tree is now, moved into the dining room instead of the box. This went okay.

But now I started getting to figurines, stuffed animals, Christmas Lego pieces and such which would get setup in the living room – I did not have enough space for them. WHY? I realized that in the past we had two large flat surfaces for them – the coffee table (which would have been in the living room and without a tree on it) and the box pushed into the dining room (and would have the tree on it, with empty space around it). I was missing the equivalent space of the top of the box! I got most of the items out and setup on “something”. The stuffed Christmas bears still fit well on the sofa in the living room. Some large figurines (Santa, elves…) was a tight fit, but went in the area they normally do by the entrance into the living room – they stick out a bit further into “traffic” which worried my husband, but seem to be okay and have not caused any trips or falls by either of us. The Legos actually got to go on the table the TV is on – they are small enough to sit along the ends of the table and not affect watching TV.

Well, decorations are what they are for now. I will think over the problems for next year to see what/how I can improve where decorations and cut down on being upset at the changes his TV has brought.

I did not get a chance to decorate my “Teddy Bear Village” in the upstairs hall. Poor bears are still celebrating Easter! But I plan to do so during the coming weekend.

We leave our decorations for a while to enjoy them. The big items in the living room – such as the tree – will come down in mid January. I have an agreement with my husband. From mid December to mid January we decorate for Christmas. From mid January to mid December he has the room setup his loom and weave. Around then – or perhaps a little later the other Christmas will also get stored away.

For now we can sit and enjoy looking them.

Oh, I forgot our studio tree! We have a craft studio in what should be our “family room/den”. I put a small tree in the front corner of the room on a dresser (for storage) with some of the various ornaments we have made over the decades.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

I do hope that all have/are having a good holiday season!

CHRISTMAS AND OTHER HOLIDAYS - AND GETTING READY

Another week gone already?

Are you ready for Christmas or Chanukah or Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa or whatever holiday)s) you celebrate?

Me, I have not packed away Thanksgiving yet.  Well, the dishes, pots, silverware etc were put away, but my decorations are still out.  I don't put out as many for Thanksgiving as I do for Christmas (maybe 1/20th as much as for Christmas or less), but I have the decorations from when we used to have the families here for Thanksgiving dinner and I still put them out – I need to. 

I have to get them packed away and get the indoor Christmas decorations put out – at least most of them.  I generally don't get to my bear village until Christmas Eve or even Christmas night so they “know” they will be put out late.

We still have a lot of stuff in the house that has to go back into our RV from when we cleared it out in October to take it in for the extended service time.  The larger pieces – the bed assembly and such – are back in it.  I have several fabric shopping bags with stuff from it, including the plastic containers that we use for food (snacks) storage when we travel.  It has been bad weather most days around here the last week or so since I realized I had to get all that out to the RV.  Oh, and the vacuum cleaner – we keep a hand held – plug in vacuum in the RV in case we make a mess and need to clean it up.  (Lots of vents in the RV for air to move in and out so animals can smell food in it – hence the plastic containers and concern requiring a vacuum cleaner.)  It is on my dining room table – not a good place for it to be.

We  (and by we, I meant I) also have to store reenacting stuff in the box benches in the dining room that we store it in.  We had the last event of the year that we needed our stuff for last Saturday – more on that later, if I remember – the only remaining events are the 6 days – this coming weekend and next – that we will be doing the candlelight night event at the local restoration village and we need little for that other than our period clothing. 

Husband has to move his weaving stuff to our studio – won't be able to get to my side of same after he does, but the “loom room” will again be the living room when he does. 

After all that I can start putting up the decorations and the trees. 

We have been busy the last week since I spoke to all of you.  I went to Manhattan to a client on Thursday, which took most of the day especially the travel back and forth.  When I got home husband was waiting to pack our van for the reenactment event that was coming up on (now last) Saturday. 

It was at a historic home that one of our members works at and was a colonial crafts event that we were allowed (encouraged) to sell our work at.  The local community had their tree lighting and other events that day so crowds were expected in the community.  Husband had been weaving scarves to sell.  It was to rain on Friday – and maybe Saturday – so when I arrived home on Thursday husband suggested that we pack the van while it was not raining, though dark.  He was concerned about the tables and racks getting wet on Saturday if it was still raining, so we put everything in very large plastic bags – some items needed two bags – one on each end, overlapping, to cover them.  He had put two tables in the back of the van before I came home.  We needed to put most of what we were bringing in the main section of the van (where we have a back seat and the middle seat is out & permanently in our storage shed to make an open space).  It was a cold night and damp in advance of the rain.  He went to slide the side door open and it did not budge.  He tried again – and again.  He then went in the front door and climbed through to the main section and went to open the door – which is pushing instead of pulling it open from outside as we thought that somehow it had frozen closed and needed to be forced open. 

Ha ha!  He get the door open and the overhead rubber gasket that keeps water from going into the van fell down – on me.  It would not fit back into place.  I called our mechanic – if I have not mentioned it is a local shop and 4 blocks from our house – it was almost 5:30 and I thought they closed at same.  His newest mechanic answered (there are 3 including the owner) and he knows us by name from all of our crazy car problems.  I explained and he told me we should bring it over – if we left it sitting it would flood in the coming rain, at the very least they would have it indoors and fix it the next day.  We drove over hoping the side door would not roll open – it did not.  He got the gasket back in place and we were set again.  We went home and loaded the van.  Friday we ran normal errands and picked up deli turkey to make sandwiches for the next day. 

Saturday it was misty more than raining and we were able to get everything inside to set up dry.  We had a nice room in the museum – the exhibition was on 19th century needlework so it went well with his weaving and my embroidery demonstration.  We fit in the room perfectly.  The event had people there most of the day – estimate is 75-100 people and since it was raining on and off and nasty the rest of the day, that was pretty good. 

Still no chance to pack away Thanksgiving decorations and start on Christmas though.  Each day has had new things to waste the day.  I did manage to fit in taking most of the smaller exams I need to take to prepare income taxes next year for pay.  They are online classes from an approved company and I use them every year.  Two more small classes and tests and then the large 3 hour timed test – 6 hours of class time to do.  That last one is always the one that scares me.  I know that someway I will fit them in  before the end of the month as I always do.

I hope to get the stuff out to the RV and pack away the Thanksgiving – at least the downstairs stuff, if not the Teddy Village Thanksgiving stuff tomorrow and hopefully start with the dining room decorations.  I need to push a large linen style looking chest from the living room to the dining room before I start the dining room.  It holds a small sized tree in the dining room and the large tree in the living room goes where the chest is the rest of the year.  (It looks like a linen or hope chest, but instead of the top lifting the front drops down and there are drawers in it for DVDs – husband made it.)

The front hall and the living have decorations also and then the 3 downstairs trees – big one in the living room, small ones in the dining room and studio and beaded one that I made in the living room also – on the coffee table.  I was going to change the bear figurines (separate from the teddy village) that are in a corner shelf unit in the living room – but his big loom is in front of the corner unit. 

I did put up the wire hanging piece we bought a few years ago to hold Christmas/holiday cards.  It is a long piece with little wire spots to clip papers – in this the cards – to and I hang it from our mug rack near the ceiling in the kitchen with red ribbons.  I had figured a better way to hang it last year when I took it down and clipped a note into one of the wire spots to remind me – good idea it worked perfectly and I clipped the note back in for next year.

We did finish our shopping – we bought books for his two nieces – the only gifts we buy.  I send my adult niblings (that is actually a work – I made it up and then found it already existed – it means nieces and nephews combined) checks for gifts.  He has bought some DVDs and such – which he would have bought anyway – and given it to me to wrap for Christmas – I actually stick them in recycled Christmas gift bags – why waste paper.  At some point we have to figure out what we are going to do for Christmas Eve dinner – maybe the Asian buffet we go to will be open?  We are also figuring we will go there for dinner tomorrow as we won't be able to eat out this or next weekend due to the reenactment, so it will break the meals at home up a bit. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Whatever holiday you celebrate – take time to enjoy it.  In the future it will generally be the good times that are remembered – if the problems and misadventures are remembered they will become humorous in retrospect - “Hey remember the year that Susan and Carl got into the box of chocolates when they were little and took a bite out of each and then put them back?”   “Remember the year we forgot to bring Ellen's gift and we all had to get together again the next week for her to get it?”  Trust me, these things are terrible in the moment, but hilarious in the future.

It is the memories of the time together - even if you are just two like us  - that matter in the end.  If the decorations are not finished – they will be by new year's.  If you will be alone try to find someplace where there are other people, I know that there are community holiday dinners even around here  - where no one would think that they exist.

Oh, and as I learned at home growing up – there is always a room to throw all the stuff I you can't figure out what to do with in so the house will look nice for any family or friends who come by.  :-)

1775 CHRISTMAS FOLLOWED BY 2019 NEW YEAR'S

Last week I was talking about getting the Christmas decorations finished, our holiday celebrations, and going “back” to 1775 for a candlelight Christmas event at a restoration village.  When we went back this past Thursday we found out that there were 1500 people through the village last Saturday night and 2200 people last Sunday night - and Sunday night they turned people away for lack of parking.  Makes one feel popular - even if the people are coming for the overall event - not us specifically.  As a result for the second weekend they made arrangements for off site parking and school buses to go back and forth.

Thursday and Saturday this week there were so many people waiting to come into the restoration that they let them come in early - event is suppose to start at 5 pm and they have an opening parade at 5:15, so we don’t get many people before then.  Both nights people were coming in at 4:30 pm (and they can not just wander in, they have to be let in).  Unfortunately since no one had informed us of this -or even the possibility of this - we were not ready for the public yet when they started to walk in.  Talk about looking disorganized!  We made our apologies and asked people to come back later. I ended up starting to give the tour at the door as people wandered in as the fellows normally there were not in place yet, and when they were ready, I followed the crowd in to where I needed to be. On Saturday night I needed a last minute trip to what was called in 1775 “the necessary”, even though I had stopped in the ladies room in the visitor’s center before we walked out to the house.  I went to the one out in the restoration and noticed other buildings having the same problem - one small house was letting people in, other larger ones (take longer to get setup for the evening) had a person out on the porch - door to the building closed - talking to the people who were waiting.  I made note of same and told husband about it in case we have the same problem in the future.  We had a huge crowd already in our house and I again had to follow the crowd into the kitchen - while removing my modern winter jacket and trying to scrunch it down small enough that it would not be noticed..  Husband had asked our unit commander to man (“woman”?) the kitchen until I was there and he was doing a good job when I arrived - but was glad to go back to music and singing and talking about “guy” things.  We don’t have counts yet for those nights, but I am guessing they were crowded than the week before.  They, again, canceled the event for Friday night as, again, there was a huge rain storm.

With the event behind us we realized that we had no plans for New Year’s.  Husband decided that we (I) would attempt to make chicken pie from partial things - premade pie shells, chicken purchased cooked and cut in small piece, canned cream of chicken soup for the sauce for New Year’s Eve dinner.  Worked relatively well and did not get either of us sick.     

New Year’s Day I finally had a chance to work on setting up my teddy village for winter.  It is mostly done at this point - I need to fix some mini-Christmas lights whose strand is out and I need to get some button batteries for some of the lights in the village.  We went out in the evening for dinner at the Asian buffet we go to on weekends. 

Not a big exciting holiday, but as I have posted many times - every day is the start of a new year.

Today was my embroidery chapter meeting.  Last night husband - whose arm and shoulder were finally doing well - fell coming down the stairs to wash his hair in the kitchen sink.  (Due to a bad cold he did not want to take a shower as the house is drafty.)  He scrapped some skin off one leg - a problem as he is Diabetic and also he cannot use normal band aid type bandages on his legs - but I bandaged it up for him.  His knee and arm hurts and he keeps worrying that he broke something - they look okay to me - not bruised, not swollen, no bone looks or feels out of place.)  So after the meeting I came home and did not have a day out alone - in exchange, as he asked me to do this - he had to join me in my normal errands for this day each month as I don’t want to let the empty soda bottles pile up.
           
While I was waiting for him to get ready to go out I made some phone calls - I had a  bill from medical lab as they must not have had my new medical insurance - I called and the hold wait ran too long.  I filled in the info on the form and will mail it to them tomorrow.  I then called the company from who I had ordered new checks for our reenactment unit - they spelled the name of the organization wrong and they will send out us new checks - glad I ordered them long before we need the new checks.  (Once again, I had to do something twice - what is going on with everyone right now?)  I also called our heating oil company.  This company gets odder and odder.  Last year or the year before our company joined another company and the other company is in charge (I may have mentioned chasing them down to try to get them to do the pre-season cleaning of the furnace, which they did not do last year either - and they cannot come until the end of February when the season is well along and heading for the end in a month or so.)  Our original company would leave a receipt when they delivered oil and then send us an invoice.  This second company would leave an invoice for us to pay as the receipt.  Well, just before Christmas a large oil company in this area delivered oil to us - not either of the ones that we have dealt with.  They left an “invoice” that did not say how much we owed them and said that a final invoice would be coming.  So I called them today to find out when the invoice would be here.  Total confusion - “Didn’t they leave an invoice?”  I explained and pointed out that I don’t know who the company who delivered is (I was talking to the second company that we have had).  “Well, I guess than they should have mailed an invoice to you.”  I held my tongue and did not get sarcastic and reply “You think so?”  They are sending me an invoice.  If I had any question about changing companies next year - this resolved it.

Hopefully we will have a couple of quiet days to catch up.  Husband is again thinking of a trip on Friday to Lancaster, PA - but I know how well his plans for same in the recent past have worked out (not at all).  Though if we go with the RV he can buy some food items not available here and maybe he will enjoy dinner a bit more than he does.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

The start of a new year is good time to take stock of where one is and what one wants to do.  I make no resolutions as they are never kept (except my last one to never make a resolution again).  If you want to change things think about what you want to change and how to do so.  It is better to think in this manner, I find, than to make grand resolutions and then find that they cannot or are not kept one feels bad.  If it was just one or two specific things - one might actually get them done and if not, it is just a hope to get something done and one does not feel as much as a failure than not keeping a “resolution”.  Resolutions are large things - work on small things and the large things will fall into place on their own.

2018 Christmas mixed with 1775 Christmas

I hope those how celebrate Christmas had a good holiday.  I hate to use the Merry or Happy as there are many for whom that won’t happen, but good holiday has a larger definition and is more inclusive.  (By the way - Queen Victoria was the one who changed the expression from Merry to Happy in Britain.  Why?  Well what we think of as the meaning of Merry is not what it then meant.  To wish someone a Merry Christmas then, was to wish them a drunken Christmas.)

Did you get all of your holiday preparations done on time?  I didn’t.  Between time lost back in October and November to my husband’s injured shoulder/arm, doing an assortment of tasks twice to get them done finally and correctly, work, and my general laziness, compounded by the fact that I lost 2 evenings (which should have been 3 - but more on that later) to the Candlelight Nights reenactment event we do with our reenactment unit just before Christmas, I fell behind - even for me. 

Normally I would have everything I wanted to do finished, except my (infamous) Teddy Christmas Village setup.  Over the years it has become normal for me to be setting it up on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day night, or even just after same.  Dinner for Christmas Eve would be planned in advance,gifts wrapped, all the other trees and decorations up and in place.  Not this year. 

As I wrote last week, I had set up the living room and dining room and front hall decorations - mostly - in advance.  I put artificial roping over the windows in the living and dining room and did so this year in the dining room.  The living room involves moving a coffee table from in front of the windows to hang the roping there - and an embroidered hoop piece that I put in the center of the roping.  (The coffee table is there and not in front of the sofa since it became husband’s weaving room and while not heavy is shoved between 2 chairs and therefore hard to move.)  At Christmas Eve the roping was still waiting.  I put it back the box and sat the embroidered piece on a chair (which will not be sat in anyway).  While doing this annoys me - the lack of the roping does not change the holiday in any way. 

Last week, you may remember, I assembled the tree while writing my post to you.  On Thursday night I brought up the two boxes of decorations that go on it first (the nicer ones), put “Lion in Winter” in the DVD player (a tradition with husband and me) and started on decorating the tree.  It took a few hours but the decorations went on the tree.  I put them on the tree in sections as there are so many that it makes it easier to see them.  I put angels on the top section of the tree all around  - or at least on the 3 sides one can actually see.  On the front of the tree I put the ornaments we have bought on vacation - and about vacation - I remember as I start to leave a vertical space for key chain we bought at one of the Smithsonian Air and Space museums of a red fabric piece which says “remove before flight” as used on planes.  An ornament does not have to be an actual ornament is something we figured out a number of years ago.  (We were someplace and they had the same piece as a key ring -not this one - and as an ornament.  Key ring was $3, ornament was $15 - we bought the key ring.)  In addition to key rings, we have bought the pins that people put on their hats to show that they have been someplace and a variety of other small items.  On the side of the tree facing the front hall and to the left of the vacation ornaments are the Santa ornaments - there I have to leave a space long enough for Santa hanging from a parachute until I come to it. To the left of the them are the teddy bear ornaments - and above them the ones dated with our anniversary - towards the back of the tree - paper houses are hanging.  On the other side of the tree - facing the side of the room, but visible are sections with stars, characters (Snoopy, Alice in Wonderland...), (fake) candy, vehicles and so on.  Then other ornaments are mixed in around the tree in all of these - handmade ornaments (some embroidered of course), and so on. 

Friday night we were suppose to be at the Candlelight event, but there was a huge rain storm coming in and the restoration canceled the night on Thursday as it would be too dangerous for people to be out in the storm and they figured few people would come.  So I was able to work on the other two boxes of ornaments (while watching the second version of “Lion in Winter” that we have.  These boxes have larger ornaments - balls and such - so there are less of them.  I put the more “important” of them on the tree - and stopped.  The back of the tree - the side facing the window and not seen in the room (or outside as the drapes are closed) is naked this year - for the first time ever.  I cleared up the room and stored the boxes downstairs.  As I took a box down I brought a large Santa or elf figure upstairs.  This also allowed us to food shop Friday afternoon.  While I had already bought stuff earlier in the week to make a Brunswick stew for Christmas Eve dinner, we also need food items that don’t have to be cooked or cook quickly to eat for dinner when we come home at around 10:30/11 pm after the events. 

Saturday night (well, actually afternoon) we ate a bigger lunch than normal at Wendys as we were eating earlier and would eat dinner much later than normal.  We then went home to dress in our period style clothing.  I had previously laid out my clothing - in reverse order of how they worn so the first piece to be put on is at the top of the pile and the last (my apron) is at the bottom of the pile.  I put on my “stockings” and shoes (I can’t reach the shoes after I put on my stays) and then my “shift” (a white more or less A-line dress that serves as underwear in period).  Over this I wear “stays” - not a corset and not worn tightly tied as Scarlet O’Hara wore her corset.  The stays have lacing up the back and front and I only open the front lacing to put them on and off.  I had them on and laced up the front. I then pulled the lacing to tighten them (only to the feel of “a gentle hug” and then to tie them - suddenly I was holding a piece of the lacing in my hand and the rest had mostly unlaced itself.  The lacing had torn apart!  I do not have a spare lace as it came with (on) the stays. Husband suggested that I get some fabric seam tape from our studio.  I ran down glad of a solution.  Uh, Oh!  I had stored his weaving stuff - yarns, finished pieces, table on my side of the studio.  I had taken out what I thought we might need to access - safety pins, thread spools and such, but we never need seam tape - so I could not get any.  On my way back upstairs the thought hit me, I could pull the seam tape in the waistband of my other petticoat (skirt) out and use it - no problem unless I decide to wear my other petticoat the next night - then an even better idea hit - I have a spare apron and have it used it while cooking at events so it is stained and I would not be wearing it during this event.  I pulled it out.  I started trying to lace the stays with it - end was stiff and it was wider than the lacing - I grabbed a pen and used to point to push the lacing into each hole - and it worked great (no one sees it as it under the rest of my clothing.)  We then rushed - afraid to be late to get there as husband is in charge and the first night we have to make sure the building is set up right and that we have candles, etc. We got there half an hour early to be there an hour before the event started!  We sat in the car until we saw some employees of the restoration go into the building. 

Everything we needed was there and we rearranged things from how they had been left for us to how we needed them.  As unit members came in each started setting up what they normally work with.  We made sure to put the keys to the building in the spot where they are suppose to be kept (don’t want to miss them when we go to lock up later).  As 4pm approached we lit the candles inside the house and on the steps outside.  Three of the rooms are behind clear half height gates, the others are walk through.  I put on my cap and offered the mirror in one of the gated off rooms to other women in our unit before I slide that gate into place, the last of the gates to be put in place.  One of the fellows had the fire going in the kitchen and the musician was ready.  We had a very successful and fun - both for the crowds and us  - evening.  Members each do whatever they feel they would like to do at the event - sing, greet people at the door and tell them about the building, be a person of the past (as husband and I do) and talk about the house and “our” time as someone who knows nothing of the future, just up to the matching day in 1775.  We are on the village for some of our fellows to fire their muskets 3 times during the night in front of the building.  When we went back on Sunday night we found out that 1500 people had come through the village the night before!  And Sunday night seemed to have almost as many people.

Saturday night after we came home, changed our clothes and had dinner I brought up the rest of my Santas and elves and set all of them up in the living room at the entrance to the room.  (Most of them were Christmas gifts from someone husband worked with, two I made, one we bought, and one is husband’s since he was a boy.    At this point the excess packing was stored away and the room almost finished - for this year at least.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday - eat lunch early and more than usual, change clothes, drive to restoration village - not as early this time as we knew that everything was ready for us.  The event was basically a repeat of the night before (and really every night we do this), while always being different based on who comes through the building and their interests as life in 1775 had about as many facets as life does today and one or the other of us (or several of us) will be able to talk on the different facets. 

After we, again, came home, changed our clothes and had dinner, I went back to Christmas decorating.  I brought up our Christmas stockings - one pair red and white fur with names for use in the years that there is something for them, one pair decorated with “Santa Claus, the movie” and one pair I embroidered for us.  There are is also a line of small stockings with the names of our Cabbage Patch kids on them (yes, we are that silly).  I also boiled the chicken I needed for the Brunswick stew for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas Eve day we went out for lunch and some short errands as places closed early.  While I cooked our dinner and set the table in the dining room - I had to, again, take the stuff we had brought back into the house from the RV to the RV.  Since the stew cooks a long time and has to be watched, I brought up and assembled the dining room tree and decorated it with brass ornaments we have received as members of Colonial Williamsburg.  I have, somehow, duplicates of two them and the two duplicates I put on the main tree in the living room.  I then took the handmade ornaments I had set aside as I did the main tree (the handmade ornaments are split between the two trees) and set up the tree in the studio for them and put them on the tree - the woven wheat snowflake I use for star on top (made by husband) needed a bit of reinforcing glue on one point and I fixed it. 

Ah, all that will/can be done was done at this point.  I turned on the living room and studio tree lights and finished cooking dinner.  We had dinner, I did the dishes.  I put the few (3) gifts we had bought ourselves in recycled Christmas gift bags.  Husband wrapped his 2 nieces’ Christmas gifts in Christmas paper and their birthday gifts in different in different paper and we put them in bags for Christmas Day.  We then went to Midnight Mass. 

Husband later went up to bed before me and I put our gifts under the tree - next to the empty fancy gift boxes there for “show”.

Christmas Day was spent at his sister’s house and the less said about it, the better.  Today was the 26th.  I paid all the bills due until after New Year’s Day, we mailed them, we went to the bank and transferred money to cover them and then came home for a quiet evening to rest up.  Tomorrow night we go back to the Candlelight Nights through Saturday night.  Ah, being in 1775 for 3 more nights - something we love.  Then the teddy village will be changed from fall to Winter/Christmas.
                       
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

None of us can do everything.  I could be upset and kicking myself for not getting all of the decorating done, but I did the best I could.  Husband points out that there is nothing missing when one looks at it all.  Another year, more will be done. 

Relax - you can only do the best you can - in decorating and organizing.  New Year’s Day will be here before I talk with you again - remember think of what you might want to change or improve and decide to try.  Don’t make resolutions - just pick something and think about what you can do.  And don’t forget - every day is the start of a new year.

I wish a happy, and healthy new year to all of you.

CHRISTMAS ALREADY?

As I write this post it is just less than a week to Christmas.  This has been a mixed up year and I am soooo behind.  I am hoping that we will have the big tree in the living room for our presents.   Okay, I know we will have the tree as in between writing this post I am bringing up the pieces of the tree from the basement and putting them in place - but will it be decorated and how much will it be decorated?  I have already put down the stand, added the pole and the tree top to it.  I am now going to put in the first of the wedge shaped sections.

Why I am so late this year?  Well, as mentioned last week, lately I seem to need to do almost everything twice.  In addition to what I mentioned last week - on Thursday a gift we had ordered for husband’s niece - a Barbie doll that is a mermaid and lights up in the bathtub as Walmart, our go to source for purchasing just about anything, does not carry it in store stock, so we had to order it for her.  The doll shown on Walmart’s site was the traditional Caucasian, blonde, blue eyed Barbie.  Unlike other Barbie dolls on the page there was no choice of “color’.  When the doll arrived it was African-American in features - not the doll we had ordered.  The doll had taken 2 weeks to come - and even if we could reorder her, we had no way of knowing if we would receive the Barbie pictured on the page on the website.  Niece actually asked for this doll and her mom had not tried to buy it for her as we were doing so.  No one wants to disappoint a 9 year old.  (Okay, even though according to her mom she asked for this, I know fully well that there is a good chance when she gets this doll, it will be glanced at and tossed over her shoulder lost in the excessive gifts from her mom and (dad’s mom) grandmother. So we both went online and I managed to find out that Target claimed to have the doll in stock at several local stores.  I printed out the information from the two stores we were most likely to get to.  We paid $13 from Walmart - the doll was listed as available by order, pick up at the store or buy at the store for $15, so not much more.  We went to one of the Targets.  To my surprise we did not have to find an employee and plead that the doll which we expected not to be on the floor - or it would be same as the one received if it was on the floor  - is suppose to be in the store and please, please find us one - the doll was out on display in abundance.  We selected one.  We then looked at the shelf and the price was $21 - not only more than the price online for Target, but also $1 over the list price from Mattel.  Husband started to panic.  I took the doll and my printout and went to the service desk.  I explained - employee told me that just because the price was shown on the website (even if it said buy in store) does not mean that the store price is the same as the online price - and even different stores will have different prices for the same item (please remember that when you shop at Target in the future, as well as the shelf price was over the list price), but she would match it (so I didn’t bother to point out to her that their shelf price was more than list.)  Almost finished - we then had to go stand in line at Walmart and return the doll received from them.  Another day gone.  (Putting in the second section of the tree. - right back.)

We have not driven our RV since August as we have not been able to go on a trip.  It was having trouble starting when we did maintenance things to it (such as running the generator every month) and husband has been pushing for trip so we were going to drive to Lancaster, PA for a farmer’s market, some other shopping, and dinner for the day on Tuesday.  Then we were just too exhausted.  So we drove it just to drive it (we could wake up much later and not need to pack any “going out of state stuff”).  We drove it for about an hour headed east on the Island we live on. We then drove it around out there (it is the both the fancy tourist end of the Island, as well as the agricultural end of same) for a while.  We finally ended up at larger Walmart out there - both so husband could look for some things he has not been able to find and to make a rest stop.  (We had lunch at the start of the trip.)  We then drove home.  It was the start of rush hour - which mostly is in the opposite direction as we are going, but there are a lot of people who commute in the opposite direction - and an accident on the main highway we were on.  We are limited in the highways which we can on which we can drive the RV as it is over height for many of them.  Husband was thinking of getting off the highway where we were and we knew the roads.  I quickly calculated and decided that the back up was after where we would get off  - by one exit.  I was right.  We stopped and refilled the gas tank in the RV and now it can rest for awhile.  Another day gone.

I have to go to a client for the month - I was hoping to have gone today, but she had a doctor’s appointment, so it will be tomorrow - the expected busiest traffic day of the season, of course.  Either day - it is another day gone. (Just put in the 3rd section of the tree.)

In addition to all of this and my exam (which I finished with a grade of 85 last night, thank goodness), we will be short of time from now to Christmas as our reenactment unit will be doing the candlelight event at the local restoration village.  It sounds like a short time - event starts at 5 pm and ends at 9:30.  But we have to start dressing before 3 pm to leave at 3:30 to get there by 4 pm (and driving with rush hour traffic on Friday, the first day of the event) to start setting up.  Then after the event ends we will need to close up, so we will not be out until 10 pm, drive home by 10:30, start dinner going and change to modern clothes and start eating dinner by 11 pm.  We have done this event for at least a decade now and we know how to plan ahead.  Today we mailed out payment on all bills due before December 27 - no need to go to the post office or bank (we took extra cash and transferred money to cover bills today).  In buying food for Christmas Eve dinner today, I did forget to buy for dinner the 3 nights of the event - hot dogs for him and chicken patties for me - come home, put up canned soup and dinner, change clothes and start eating by 11:30 pm.  Husband said he would go tomorrow while I was at work to buy same - and some deli turkey breast for Friday night.  We treated ourselves to dinner out tonight as we normally would go out on the weekend for dinner and will pick up takeout tomorrow night.

In and between all of this I have put up the decorations in the dining room and most of them in the living (I have not have the energy to move furniture to put up a double length swag of artificial roping across the back living room windows with an embroidery piece of mine in a hoop in the center of the swag (where it goes back up to the top of the window).  So everything on the table below it is in disarray. 

Our Christmas tree and lights, skirt, and some of the ornaments are stored in the box that the tree came in - under the staircase in the basement.  Two of our other trees, Christmas decorative figures and some other related items are stored on top of the box.  Of course to get to the box everything in front of it has to be moved.  After we came home from dinner I began sorting this all out.  I moved what is kept in front of the box and the items stored on top of it.  I then pulled out the stand and the pole - need them first of course - and a junk bath size towel (you know - the ones that are not good enough to use, but too good to toss, and great for things like soaking water from a small flood or such).  I put the towel down on the wooden floor first - it keeps the floor from getting scratched if we need to move the tree from where it starts as well as making it easier to do so by dragging the towel, while holding the tree upright.  Oh - it is not this easy - I spent part of last night moving husband’s table that he uses for various weaving related purposes into the studio (what should have been our family room) and wedging it (it is a gate-leg, so it folds down narrow) between my studio worktable and chair.  I then carried in 7 boxes of yarns and finished woven pieces.  (And arranged them in the right order for access to what husband might need while it is all shoved back there.)  I put the top of the tree in place.  The instructions said to do this last and we did so for years (closer to decades).  We are both short and doing so involves reaching across the spread of the bottom tree sections - not something either of us can do without a ladder, which is a rather shaky way to do so.  2 years ago it occurred to me to try putting the top in place and seeing if I could still put the bottom pieces (8 wedge shaped pieces) in place - I could and I now I assemble the tree this way.  I am now in the midst (between lines/ sections of this post) of bringing up a section of the tree and a zip bag or two with a strand of lights in each.  I discovered that the way to deal with the down and up the stairs for each section is to stretch it out a bit as the sections are heavy and the stairs long.  (Going down for another section right now - my fourth of the eight.)  Back again.  We found that we have to put the sections on so that two which sit opposite each other go on one after another - then the 2 that form the two cross pieces to same, then fill in opposite ones in the holes in between them.  If the sections next to each other are put on together - the tree gets too heavy and starts to fall over (yes, we found out the hard way - been there, done that) so the spacing of putting them in is important.  I should have the entire tree up before we go to bed.  Not sure if I will get the lights on tonight - or tomorrow night.  Spacing where it is located seems good.  It is a small area, but I can walk around the tree, except for the side facing the window and will deal with that from the sides.  We originally would set up the tree in the back, right corner of the room, but the front center works better - and only one piece of furniture needs to moved (and this crazy year past, it was never put back). 

A few years ago I came up with an idea for turning on and off the tree.  We have several electric cords which allow something to be plugged in at one end (which is also what plugs into the electricity) and at the other end there is an on-off switch.  I use this and run the cord up through the tree and it just sticks on the side of the tree that is not as easily seen (away from the room entrance and near a wall) and we just stick our hands into the tree there and turn the lights on or off.  This year I put a 3 outlet plug into the cord before the tree and we can also plug in our light up bear (he wears our Santa hat) so both will go on at the same time - we always forget to light him.  (Off for section 5 - it will face the window behind the tree.)

I have four large plastic boxes with ornaments in the basement also - behind the 2 empty decoration boxes and the 2 full Teddy bear village Christmas village.  They will come up when I am ready to use them. The ornament boxes are labeled one to four.  The ornaments in box 1 are basically the ones I want to put on the tree first and the ones in box 4 basically the ones I want to put on last.  There are also other ornaments which are kept in the tree box and some in other places.  Some of the ornaments will end up on the studio tree - it is decorated with only ornaments we have made - although there are plenty of those also on the main tree.  There will also be a tree in the dining room.  It gets the ornaments we receive as donors to Colonial Williamsburg - but some duplicate ones will go on the main tree also.  There is also a small beaded tree which I made - it is stored decorated, but some always fall off in transit and need to be replaced.

I had cleared out the dining room of extraneous stuff before decorating it.  Unfortunately RV stuff that ends up in the dining room in RV use season which I took out and left in the RV for the winter, had to be brought back in when we went on the trip - good thing.  The back of the RV (remember this is a Chevy van conversion not a huge RV) has two seating benches opposite each other on the sides and they convert to the bed by filling in the area between the seats with wooden boards and sliding the seat cushions and seat backs into the space.  It is set up as the 2 seats for the off season with the bedding in knotted closed huge plastic bags on one of the seats and the seat backs on the other seat.  We have driven before with them like this with no problem.  During the trip we heard NOISES from the back, Normally we hear noises from the back and we just figured it was because things that are normally packed full when we travel so that items don’t shift around were much emptier.  When we stopped at the Walmart out there - everything was lying in the area between the benches - luckily nothing broken - don’t know why.  If I had not taken the items back into the house as I did - they would have been broken.  So again, I have to repeat doing something and I have to take the items back from the dining room - again - and store them in the (stationary now for some time to come) RV.

At some point - even if it is on or after Christmas - I will set up the other 2 trees down here that have to be decorated.  I will, hopefully finish the living room (or just put out my embroidery place and forget about the roping for this year).  I will also change the teddy village from fall to winter - this is something that I normally do on Christmas Eve or afternoon or after same.

Do I over decorate?  Yes.  But we don’t really buy each other gifts (or otherwise get them) and Christmas day dinner with his sister and her family is not fun.  Mass, the focus of the holiday is an hour.  So other than participating with our reenacting unit in doing 6 nights (3 this week and 3 next week) of interpreting a 1740 house at the event mentioned, decorating is just about all of our holiday. Oh, and of course there are some Chanukah decorations mixed in for me.  (Going down for piece number 6, right back.)

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Take time to enjoy the holidays.  We often spend so much time decorating, shopping, cooking (maybe some cleaning if people are coming), etc. While I , obviously, go overboard in decorating, I also understand that time to enjoy ourselves and rest is also needed.  I push to get it all done, but if it is not, I am not going to be upset with myself.  The first year that we were married we did not have a tree for a variety of reasons (none financial).  I decided that husband needed something.  I bought 2 large sheets of brown oak tag and some paints.  I painted a fireplace opening and fire on one and painted the mortar of bricks (see I bought brown oaktag so I would not have to paint bricks - just the mortar between them) for the sides and chimney area of a fireplace.  I then tied them to the back of one of his mom’s old kitchen chairs (we had a few of them to use as we had not bought kitchen set yet - table was a bridge table borrowed from my mom) so it would stand.  We set it up for years until it fell apart some time after we moved into this house.  It was simple, but served its purpose.  (Going down for tree December 20, 2018 piece number 7.)

I hope that all of you have a good holiday season - I hate to say Happy or Merry as I know that many people do not.  Try to remember what is important and know that the rest will work itself it out.  If not everything you plan gets done - it is not a failure, it is just how it is.  Something will always go wrong - last year I misplaced a gift card purchased for husband’s niece (same one we got the Barbie mermaid for) and it did not turn up until I started changing the teddy Christmas village into the summer village (for the first time - as in the past the village has only been done for Christmas/Winter).  So now we have a gift card to use at a store we don’t shop at.  But we gave her cash last year and we are sure that some day we will find a use for the card - maybe a DVD before they stop carrying them?  But after going crazy looking for the card last year (and positive I threw it out somehow), I put it aside and went on with the holiday.  (I will go down for the last piece and close up downstairs after I post this - see it wasn’t so bad.)

WHAT EATS UP MY TIME THESE DAYS?

Do you have control over your time?  How much of you time is governed by other people who need you or make plans which involve you - and are not the king of people you can say no to?

When my husband worked full time at his job all of my time during the day on weekdays was my own.  Yes, I had to go to work and I went to my embroidery meetings, but I could easily plan what I was doing when back then. 

Husband and I were in what is called a rotational art exhibit - okay, we were each in two of them.  In this type of exhibition (run by two different township park departments) the artist, after having his/her work reviewed and approved, goes to a showcase.  Different venues - town offices, libraries, local businesses... sign up with the program also and come to the showcase.  They select which artist’s works they would like to have in their venue and they and the artist agree on which month (or two month period) the exhibition will be for. There would be months when we had 3 shows at 3 different venues (he had work in 2 different media in the show).  Since he was working full time I was allowed to represent both of us - I also set up and took down the exhibitions.  I could schedule the exhibitions, set them up and then take them down.  When husband quit his job and worked part time from home we would do all of this together and there was always a problem with him as to when we were doing it, why we were doing it (we only sold 3 small pieces over the time he exhibited, my work was not for sale, so I did not sell any).  It amazed me how much easier it was when I did this all alone, then when we did it together.  Due to the fact that one of libraries may be where we got bedbugs, we stopped doing the shows - and it was relief to stop - although before he started coming along, this would not have been true.

When he first quit his job we had an agreement that we would each go our own way during the day - and we did for awhile.  Then gasoline prices went up and up and up and husband pointed out that we were wasting money at the high price of gas for me to drive to the supermarket and him to drive separately to the Home Depot in the same parking lot and we started sort of car pooling for errands like this.  Before I knew it, we were together all day, every day (except the days I went out to work and the days I went to my embroidery meeting). 

Clients of mine, older senior citizens, had to shut down their business due to the economy and gradually I ended up with only one monthly business client. I used to go out to clients at least 8 days a month - some days to multiple clients - and had no problem scheduling them - now the 1 client is a problem to schedule. 

I am not the world’s best house cleaner.  I had a schedule - on Wednesdays I would clean - First Wednesday of the month I would dust, vacuum & wash floors, and clean the toilet upstairs.  Second Wednesday of the month I would do the same downstairs.  Third week I would do the upstairs - except the toilet - again.  Fourth week I would do the same as the second, but would clean the kitchen instead of the bathroom.  On the occasional fifth Wednesday I would do another chore that had not been done and needed doing.  Now - forget it!  It is hard to clean toilets or wash floors when as soon as one is mid cleaning one’s husband appears and says “I have to go in NOW.”  And there is always a reason that the other bathroom is not where he wants to be.  It has gotten so bad that I ended waiting until he fell asleep at night and then cleaned the upstairs bathroom - at 3 in the morning!

This comes up right now as the past 2 weeks I feel like screaming!  Last week on Tuesday he decided it was time to put up the Christmas lights, and then looked at the bushes and the piles of fallen leaves and said “We can’t put up the lights with all these leaves here - there will be a fire.”  Okay, so we are going to suddenly clear up the leaves.  He found online at a home store near us a rack to hold the garbage bags and it was in stock at the store.  We go there  - I really don’t think we need the rack - without even knowing what it was.  The store does not have any, even though the company website says that they do - and, while it is still November at that time, they don’t have it because it is a “fall” item and the main office therefore took all of them back! Oh, and according to them the website saying they have something does not mean anything - good thing husband did not buy it online and go to pick it up at the store.  We lost an hour and a half of limited sunlight (remember we get started late and had already run errands) on that fool’s errand.  We come home and we start clearing the leaves.  Over the years husband has come up with a variety of methods to do this - vacuum them, shred them with a vacuum, and I don’t know what else - my system is a snow shovel  - yes, a snow shovel.  First I quickly rake the leaves out from between the bushes onto the driveway in a line of leaves.  I shovel them into the garbage bag in the garbage pail, stop periodically to tamp them down with the shovel, then when the bag is full (probably overfull) I close the bad with a bag tie, drag the garbage can to by the curb, lay the pail down on it’s side, stand it up again with the open end down, pull the can off the bag and there it is - a bag of leaves where it needs to be for pickup.  I am doing the work due to the pain that is still healing in his left arm and shoulder.  He has to help (you know, like small children have to help).  He wants to hold the rake for me to push the leaves against when shoveling, this is not needed as there is a line of leaves to push against and at the end I use the pail.  Then he decides that too many leaves are falling and puts the rake over the leaves - resulting in almost all of the leaves falling off.  I convince him to go and get more bags and bag ties to keep him busy.  We eventually end up with about a dozen or more bags sitting at the curb - they were picked the next day as Wednesday is yard pickup.  Wednesday we run errands and then go to clear the last of the leaves - these are leaves around the driveway where he is worried that mice will nest - he is shocked that new leaves are where we cleared the day before!  Now, if I was involved in planning this ahead of time - we would not have had errands to run - I would make sure they were otherwise scheduled - and we would have eaten a quick lunch at home to give us enough time, instead of our daily half hour plus leisurely lunch at Wendys.

We had checked the light strands ahead of time, as we had not had a chance to check them when we took them down (I made a reminder in my cell phone for the middle of October about this, as well as about the 2 strands that went out while out last year and had purchased replacement lights.  We had to wait after clearing the leaves for a day that was not below freezing and it was not raining.  Over the weekend we put out the lights.  I am, again, doing the work.  We did a little bit different setup as he had some ideas, All was going well.  We have a holly tree and the lights have to be (literally) thrown onto the upper part of it as neither of us likes to go on a ladder.  I was trying to figure out how to put the higher lights on it - figuring a ladder will be needed - and he grabs the strand and throws it - and then is reminded of his shoulder and arm - and was back in pain like a few weeks ago!  (Yes, the lights are up, look nice - one of his ideas I thought was terrible works very well.)

We spent yesterday evening taking apart his computer as it had stopped working - believe it or not it as the battery that keeps the time and such going as this is his desktop computer.  So the time I would have spent washing dishes - I was lifting his computer (because even before he threw the light strand he should not have lifted it) as well as clearing off my desk for him to work on.  I did some of my magic - “It needs a CR2032 battery, I guess we will have to buy one.”  I go to our bag of button batteries (travels with us on trips) and find one, still sealed in the package.  Then I did the dishes after we changed the battery, put the computer back on his side of the office on the floor and he had restarted the computer.

I have to take 20 hours of classes to do tax returns next year - I took 2 hours of them the other evening and I should have much more of them done by now - only 26 days to go - 6 days of which we will be involved in reenacting, two days of which will be Christmas Eve and Day, that leaves 18 days left!  And Christmas decorations, shopping for one of his nieces (other is  finished) and regular housework is left - oh, and he is still trying to fit in a one day trip to Lancaster, PA.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is hard to make our time our own to be able to schedule what work needs to be done, but we have to do it.  This time of year, especially, we have to make time for what we need to do as well as what we have to do. 

NO VACATION

In this part of the U.S. this week is the winter school vacation.  This dates back to the 1970s when there was an energy shortage and closing the schools this week saved a week of expensive heating of the schools.  For those of you not in the U.S. the third Monday in February is an annual Monday holiday related to George Washington’s (our first President back in the 1780s) birthday which is February 22.  It is still officially called “George Washington’s Birthday”, but since the purpose of it is to celebrate all of our Presidents, it is commonly called “President’s Day”.  So, around here the 3 day weekend resulting from this Monday holiday was extended to a week of no school.

While many to most people are off from work on Monday, only those working at schools have the week off.  The only connection that others have with the week off is what to do with their children while the children are off from school and they are working.  Husband worked at an agency for children with mental health problems which followed a school year as it was also a school program for the children so he is used to this week being a vacation week.  While he was still working and I was working full time for myself (back when we still stayed at hotels when traveling) we would go away this week to Lancaster, PA.  It would be nice and quiet as was/is not a school vacation in Pennsylvania and in many other adjacent states so not many people were traveling mid week.

Husband had planned to go there for the day this coming Friday - but it is suppose to rain, so he moved it back to Tuesday (yesterday) which was suppose to be and was nice.  At the last minute he changed his mind and we did not go.

Okay you are thinking - What does this have to do with organizing?

Well, a lot actually.  If we are going away - even for a day - I have to plan around the trip to get done what regularly needs to be done in the house plus have everything ready for the trip.  Even a day trip seems to take a bit of packing these days.  I bring my work laptop, which has to be charged.  I bring a small case with a spare wallet, just in case we were robbed while traveling or one of us lost their wallet and the credit cards had to be canceled.  There is a credit card for me that he does have and a credit card for him that I do not have, there is extra cash, and there are assorted store cards and such which are for stores out of the area.  We used to carry Travelers checks in also, but found out that no one takes them any longer so we (with much trouble) cashed them in a couple of years ago.  I bring a spare set of one day’s medications - just in case.  I might also have some craft business related papers so if we buy materials (fabric, wood, yarn) that will go into something we are making for sale, we will not have to pay sales tax - different forms for different states.  If we are looking for something specific to buy while away we might bring something to match it to for size, color, etc. Depending on the weather we might bring warmer - or cooler coats/sweaters than we plan to wear - maybe even a rain coat when it is warmer weather if rain is possible.  We also might bring a spare pair of shoes each - again depending on the weather.  So much for the carefree easy travel of our younger years.

This year we have been traveling on these one day trips to Lancaster in our RV.  Not that we plan to stay, but the RV is not driven enough - especially off RV season (late fall to early spring) and the engine needs the exercise.  Last year we did not so this and we went to have our annual state inspection for the RV, it had not been driven enough for the tests to work, so we had to drive it locally for a few hours just to put enough mileage on it.  Waste of time, waste of gas and we had to work it out so we went and came back between rush hours.  So we take the RV when we go to Lancaster for day trips - well, this would have been the second time we did so.  The other advantage to taking the RV is that the refrigerator can be turned on in it when we leave in the morning and will be cold by the time we are there.  A can of soda for lunch will still be cold (especially if it is cold outside) when we have it and we can buy food items we like that are local to Lancaster and not available at home that need to be refrigerated and bring them home safely.  (Last year when we went with the car husband bought chicken salad - he likes the type they make there and not what they make here) without the fridge and it got too hot in the cold bag in the back of the car, even with ice blocks in it and it had to be tossed.

So Monday I pointed out that if we were going away on Tuesday, we should get extra cash at the bank and did so.  When we came home I packed what papers and such we would bring with us and had the laptop ready to charge.  I then paid bills which were due out today so they would be ready to go out today even though we would not have been home yesterday. 

Then Monday night - after not doing things I planned to do Monday so we could go away, he decided we were not going.  It was a question I asked - “Do we need to take the stuff we stored in the RV out of it?”  There is all sorts of stuff for the RV that we keep in the house when traveling (in the dining room) and then put in it for the off season so we have a nice dining room for the holidays.  He thought about it and the fact it was raining and decided not to go. 

So I got a day to work at home that I had not planned on. 

I managed to finish filling the corporation tax forms for a client - due March 15.  I still have to proofread it (and check the numbers and math) and print it all out, but the hard part is done. 

I have been working on storing the Christmas stuff.  I took the ornaments off the dining room tree and took the tree apart to store.  It goes in a cardboard octagonal box (opens down the length of the box) which then “slides” into a carry bag (opens on one end).  It has never been easy to get it into the box  - much squeezing and many hand scratches and packing tape to hold the box together and then hard to get the box into the bag.  This year the entire setup exploded - okay, part was my fault.  I thought there were 3 sections to the tree (in height) and there are four.  I was so confused that the tree section was longer than the box that the box got ripped apart on one end from my attempts.  Even after I figured it out and took the 2 sections apart - the box was far gone.  I then tried to tie each of the tree sections together so the branches would be compacted into place for storage - did not work either.  I finally sort of got the box together - much packing tape - and still it only fit partway into the bag as the box was not as compact as it should be.  I gave up - the entire thing was put downstairs on the box the main tree is stored in, as is. 

I packed up the large figures we have in the living room.  Someone husband worked with would give him these figures as a Christmas gift.  Somehow they grew on us and we kept them even though we would not have bought them - well...  It started with a Santa who is about 3 or 4 feet tall.  He was joined by a wooden elf a bit shorter.  Then a Santa who is a bear with toys and a bird in a cage.  I had made separately and unrelated an elf who is making a doll - he joined the others instead of sitting standoffishly across the room.  We found a small plastic Santa from when husband was a boy.  I liked a girl elf figure that finally came down cheaper enough (well below 50% off) who joined them.  Add 2 angel bears and it is a friendly group.  It goes where a chair is moved to the dining room during Christmas to get it out of the way.  They are also stored on top of the box for the main Christmas tree - in large plastic bags.

Then I took the small figures - mostly bears (oh, the angels above join them in storage) and stored them in their box in the basement.  Our Christmas stockings (embroidered and commercial) and some other “soft” decorations I have made store in the box with them.

Three fancy gift boxes I use for storage have been packed with the items stored in them each year and are upstairs for storage when the Teddy Village comes down (they go in the trunk the village is on).

While doing the laundry now, I brought up the last 2 boxes to store Christmas decorations in - except the bear village.  I will pack these two over the next couple of days.

So, we missed out on a day trip, but I have made good use of the day we were home instead - and kept working until it was done . 

To feel a bit like we had a trip we went out to dinner tonight to a fancier (more expensive) Asian buffet tonight.  The really nice one is much more than we felt like spending this year (technically this is our Christmas dinner out) so we went to one in between.  Very nice and much better than the ones we go to normally.  It made him happy and it that is worth it.

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -

1 - Even short day trips work better with a bit of planning.

2 - When one gets an unexpected day to get work done - get as much done as possible.

DOES TIME EXPAND TO FIT THE WORK TO BE DONE - OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?

Well my client was not there when I telephoned her last week.  I will be going to her on Thursday.   Due to not going to her and a few other bills that popped up I started to go into a panic about paying our bills on time.  We pay every bill, every month in full - no payouts, with two much discussed before we did them, exceptions, in the almost 40 years we have been married and we each did so before.  This was a timing error - bills were due out and the money was coming in too late to pay them.  So we had to raid my tiny IRA for $1000 to carry us through.  We will need to make a regular scheduled  withdrawal from husband’s IRA next month to pay our quarterly real estate taxes and our semi-annual car insurance payment in February.

I packed up the rest of the ornaments from the main and studio trees over the weekend.  Monday night I took the lights off the tree - except the top section which the lights stay in place on.  My right elbow started hurting last week (maybe even the week before at this point) especially when lifting my arm or lifting something heavy with my arm and it has been hard to do all of this.  Our main tree is artificial (well, all of them are) and had to be disassembled and the sections are too heavy for me to lift with this arm, so last night husband took it apart and stacked the pieces in the dining room where I told him to put them.  This way he can warp his loom and start working on it again and the pieces of tree can “drift” downstairs as I can deal with them - he would get ill bending over to put them into the tree box.  The studio tree is not in the way and will also find its way downstairs and after the these trees are down I will be able to take apart the one in the dining room- currently blocked by the pieces from the main tree. Since we don’t really get Christmas gifts there is nothing of same to put away - just one empty box that I will ask husband about tossing.  I did move the “Christmas boxes” we use for storage out of the way - these are Christmas decorated gift or storage boxes that I store Christmas decorations in during the year and then put them - empty - under the tree so it looks pretty and like there are gifts under the tree.  So today we warped his loom - without the tree there is enough room to do so.  But he is still surrounded by Santas, angels, Christmas and Chanukah bears.

I finally had a chance to write a cover letter and get out the renewal reminders for our reenactment unit - I serve as the membership chair in addition to being the treasurer as it is easier than passing the info back and forth to someone else about renewals.  I had been delayed due to an error on our national group’s website.  Something interesting - when I went on their website with my computer and clicked on this year’s membership form I got instead a form for people to form and sign up a new unit.  When I contacted the person in charge she said that when she clicked on it she got the membership form.  Hmmm?  Turns out if one went on the site with a computer one got the unit form, but if one went on the site with a tablet or phone one got the correct the form.  It has been corrected thank to my asking about it - it also delayed sending out the renewals a week waiting for this.  We put together the mailing t - folded cover letter and forms, put in envelopes, put on stamps and address and return address labels.  Out in the mail today.  The renewal reminders and forms went out in today’s mail.

I have out a stack of books to write a talk that I am scheduled to give at my embroidery chapter on our meeting next month - 2 weeks from today - on the history of samplers.  I keep trying to get started writing it.  I know the basics of what I plan to say and the order, but I have to get it all together and have an outline to follow - I would hate to suddenly forget a word in the middle of the talk and I don’t want to start to wander off point!  Husband will print out photos for me that he has taken at exhibitions we have gone to - plus I may pull some off the Internet or out of the books I have.  Somehow I know it will be done as I want to do it.  I don’t feel that I can teach stitches or techniques at meetings as others have done, but I am real good at talking.  (Can you tell that from my posts?)  I sent out an email today to the chapter board asking if anyone had anything for me to include in the newsletter - which will go out next Wednesday (meeting is the week after).

I put my older software DVDs/CDs that I still need to keep in 2 new boxes as the old ones did not hold much and kept falling apart.  The old ones will be donated next month - along with a bag of unworn pantyhose - I wore one and it was awful, so I tossed that one and the rest of the huge bag (from an outlet) will be donated.  I have a glass bowl that did not make it in December when I went to Goodwill that will join them.  Looking around for what else can be donated.

And now tomorrow I will spend driving to Queens, taking the subway to Manhattan, working for about 3 hours, and then take the subway back to Queens and drive home.  I will spend between 4 and 5 hours in transit for the 3 hour visit.  Hopefully our mechanic found the problem last month and the drive home will be comfortable.  I have already put burgers in the refrigerator to defrost for dinner tomorrow night when I get home.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

We can get more done when we have to than we do when we don’t have to. 

It seems odd to me that I normally have trouble getting through what I need to in a week, but then those weeks come when I have to do a LOT more - Christmas decorating or decoration storage, writing a talk to give at a meeting, catching up on laundry when I fall behind, tax season, and other assorted extra or emergency jobs.  Somehow it all always seems to get done.

VERY COLD START TO THE NEW YEAR

Being in the northeast US we had a terribly cold start to the year, well, technically it also ended 2017.  It has been (according to the weather reports) the 3rd longest period with the temperature below freezing for this area since records were kept.  I know many of you will scoff at this as the temperature where you are is (much) more often below freezing, but luckily for us, not that common here.  Add to the unusually cold weather strong winds - in some areas wind chills were below 0 Fahrenheit - again I know elsewhere this is not that unusual. 

As you know from last week’ post, we had a snow storm last Thursday.  Due to the cold weather, the snow has stayed.   - I must make a correction to last week’s post - I mentioned that a neighbor had helped us removes snow from one of the driveway cuts.  I assumed (and you know what that means) that it was the neighbor who lived in the house immediately next to us on that side as he had been helping, what I thought was his wife.  I was surprised as the neighbor has had back problems and even asked about same and he told me that he was fine.  I later telephoned him and thanked him again.  The next day I received an email from his wife - the neighbor had not been the one who helped us - he was in the house as he cannot leave same due to his back problem.  The neighbor on the other side of her house - who we have never even met before (it is a main street and therefore we only know the neighbors on either side and one house to the other side, but that is due to a shared car accident by a 3rd party).  Even nicer of him to have helped.  She did not know his telephone number or email so I am going to write a thank you note.  So, thank you, Dave! - Oh, and we did find the nut that goes with the handle that fell off the snow blower.

We stayed in the house on Friday for the entire day as it was the coldest day of this period of subfreezing weather.  I took advantage of this time in the house to finally finish putting up my Christmas decorations - yes, on the twelfth and last day of Christmas I set up my teddy bear village!  It is now setup and we are enjoying it.  My normal time to start take down the other decorations is this coming Monday, but I may leave them up a few extra days - I will ask husband what he thinks and if he is ready.  Between his worrying over the weather and our “visit to the 18th century” we have not really had a chance to look at them The village always stays up longer.

I checked with my mom  - 88 years old - tonight to make sure she has groceries, heat, running water, etc. and she does.  I asked if she needs anything and she told me no, she has groceries for at least another week and she is sure the snow will melt by then.  She cannot open her front door as there is snow against it, but is sure after tomorrow (it is suppose to be 50 degrees Fahrenheit and to rain tomorrow) she will be able to open her door.  I made her promise (which she would never keep) to call me if she needs food or help getting out.  She is our only parent left.

Another followup to the snow removal story.  When we put out our outdoor Christmas lights husband placed a strand on a low bush next to the steps to our door.  He was draping them around the front of the bush.  I suggested that maybe we did not want them that far forward and reminded him that once when we had someone to clear the snow, they ran the snow blower over the lights on that bush.  He did not remember.  Before the snow came I suggested that I unplug all the outside lights - afraid that water might get into the lights and short them out - maybe even start a fire.  Husband instead turned off the breaker to that circuit.  (The front outdoor outlet is on its own circuit as is the back outdoor outlet.)    Good thing.  As I mentioned last week husband ran over the Christmas light strand with the snow blower and we found pieces of the wire as far away as the other side of our small property).   We have basically just left the snow as it was after we cleared it then as it was too cold and we were too discouraged to do anything about it.  Today the temperature was in the upper 30s.  Husband decided that the snow would not melt properly and he would blow some more of the snow out of the driveway cuts so that it would spread around more and melt faster.  In addition we are suppose to clear the sidewalk in front of our house and had not done so - too much work and anyone can use our driveway to get from one side to the other.  But, he also had not cleared the driver’s side of our van and to use it one needed to go in through the passenger side to get to the driver’s seat and he found it cumbersome, the time he tried moving the van to see if would move.  So he decided to clear the sidewalk now, which would also give him access to the driver’s side of the van.  (Normally the van sits there, but I need to go to a client next week and if the van is frozen in, he has no way to go out for lunch or to amuse himself while I have the car.)  He was doing okay, but then the snow blower started to make funny noises and sort of “buck’.  He pulled the snow blower to a spot on the driveway that was clear and shut it off.  He looked inside (with a little shovel stick that came with the blower) - nothing stuck.   He had me lay down the blower for him - handle to the ground and found the problem.  Apparently much more of the light strand had been pulled by the blower and it was wrapped around both sides of the axle of the blower’s wheels.  About 15 minutes later - with the help of needlenose pliers and a wire cutter - the blower was fixed. 

Instead of going in, husband decided to clear the snow off the windshield and hood of our RV (remember this is a Chevy van).  It would not move.  I suggested starting the engine - by logic and what I have seen happen before - this would heat the snow on the bottom and it would slide off the hood easily - if not on it’s own.  He insisted that would not work and kept pushing until he removed enough to make him happy.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Okay two of them -

First, unplug or shut off the power to your Christmas lights before using a snow blower near them.

Second - Keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home warm in cold weather so that all survive safely. 

18 CENTURY, SNOW STORM AND NEW YEAR

Sorry to be late again.  I am still running terribly behind where I should be due to the holidays, I guess.

The reenactment event we did last week is usually a nice simple, although time consuming, event to do.  It has been one of my favorites every year.  It was an unusually cold week for around here.  Normally the weather should be above freezing here in December, one night last week was 9 degrees Fahrenheit and on the final day of the event it snowed.  While it is an 18th century house it does have a furnace in the basement and we also make a fire in the kitchen fireplace. This kitchen is unusual for the period as it is in the house - at least as it is set up to be interpreted by the restoration.  Normally we are comfortable in the house, but this year it was cold in the house - so cold that husband (with his cold) actually asked to switch rooms with me during the last 2 nights as the room he was in was too cold for him.  So he got to talk about our musicians/singers, the odd cabinet bed in the room, the kitchen, and Sinter Klaus (there is a display table related) while I got to talk about the owner’s office and the 2 bed chambers - he likes doing the back rooms as he can talk more about anything he wants to than in the kitchen where there are things to be covered in talking. We even brought plain knit gloves the last two nights to keep our hands warm in the house.  Our unit is lucky - we are in the first house in the village so we have the shortest walk from the visitors’ center in the cold.  One thing which surprised me was how many people came out in the terrible cold - and many brought very small children and babies. 

So after “spending” 5 days in the 18th century, I was behind on everything.  I have since read 9 newspapers, caught up on a week’s worth of email and mail, caught up on my online groups - one of which moved to a new setup and I had to join and setup my account all over again, plus doing all of same that has come in since. 

We had been told that we were to have snow from early this morning (Thursday) through the day.  Where we are was suppose to get about 4 inches.  Husband now panics over bad weather.  I had my embroidery chapter meeting yesterday so on Tuesday I told him that we should buy whatever he wants or feels we need to have for a snow day.  We bought stuff.  I told him that I would go to the meeting (which is actually in extended walking distance from our house) and would not stay for the class on stitches after the meeting part.  I did make one stop after - I exchanged USB stick drives in our bank vault - I use same for offsite data storage, which is changed once a month. (When he went to work, I would send the drive to work with him and he would bring the old one home with him for reuse.)  I then came home.  We ended up going to Walmart, the adjacent supermarket and the Walmart supermarket here.  (Our regular Walmarts have small food departments, but not the supermarket areas that they do in other places  - the Walmart supermarket is smaller than the sections elsewhere and is only a supermarket and pharmacy.)  When we came home we went into “horrible weather mode”.  All of laptops and cell phones were plugged into charge (and have stayed same since) and he had bought two devices to recharge cell phones, so those were plugged in also so they would be fully charged.  Normally I would move anything in the middle of the traffic patterns in rooms out of same - but the living room and dining room where this is mostly done were still neat from the holidays. This way if we did lose electricity it is easier to walk around in dim light and not walk into anything.  (For us, we are still in the holidays.)    
                                       
When we went to bed last night, the snow had gone up a bit in how much we would get, as it had shifted further west.  (Those of you in the South or the Northeast part of the U.S. who were hit by this storm, you have my sympathy.)  The weather reporters has also started talking about blizzard and nor’easter (think hurricane with snow in cold weather).  But, he had not panicked and I was glad of that. When I went to sleep around 4:30 am, there were still no school closings showing up on the local news.           

Well, it ended up that this area had over 10 inches of snow - in bitter cold weather.  It finally stopped snowing around 4pm and based on the suggestion from the weather reporters, as well as husband’s need to do so, we went out to clear our driveway.  Our neighbors on either side were also doing so (they are young with young children - we are old with no children).  And shortly after the neighbor’s son from two doors over (in his 20s) came out with some friends to dig out their cars.  Our driveway is semi circular.  It goes from one edge of our property to the other so just figuring out where to put snow is hard.  Husband used the lightweight snow blower we bought last year.  I used a shovel and a brush - the latter to clear off our car.  We were out there about 2 hours doing this.  Husband had trouble with one of the cuts to the street (4 lane road so we get 2 driving lanes plus a parking lane’s worth of snow plowed over on same) and had me cutting it down with the shovel (breaking the snow loose so it would spread over more area and easier for him to throw) while he worked on the other cut.  The neighbor on that side who has a larger snow blower, came and cleared it for us.  (Thank you again Sal!!!).  I cleared half the stair case to our front door so the mailman could get to the box (I have no idea if we got mail today - I was not going to look - we did get a newspaper, but I forgot to take it in and was not going back out for it) and also cleared the snow all the way across the top step so that the door would open in an emergency. 

Finally exhausted we came back into the house.  I could not feel my toes.  Husband looked as if he would pass out.  We lost a small piece off the snow blower - a knob - which we have lost before, found it, but are still missing the nut to it and hope to find it tomorrow when it is light out.  (By 4 pm when we started it was dark out - and our garage light is on a motion detector, so when it went out one of us had to run to where it would go back on.)  When he was coming to the end of the snow clearing he heard a noise in the blower which upset him - we later found out, he ran over the Christmas lights on one of the low bushes - good thing I told him to shut off the electricity to the lights last night.  Schools are already closed for tomorrow.  The weather is suppose to remain 15 degrees F or less until at least Monday, so there will be a lot of ice on the driveway.

I had told him to do a bit of the snow clearing, then in the house and rest a bit.  But, being a man, it all had to be done at once, of course.

After dinner I went upstairs and did the paperwork I planned to do today and never got to.  Moving some money around to pay bills, paying the bills, and a birthday card for my brother in law and one for the daughter of the neighbor who helped us out.  Both birthdays are Monday and one bill is due out by then - not sure if we will get to the post office (and bank) in time for them to go out before Monday, but if they can, we are ready. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve. 

The way I look at it, every day is the start of a New Year.  I don’t make resolutions - the last one I made I have kept ever since, it was not to make any more resolutions.  I look for what I can do (or not do) and then do my best to follow up.  Resolutions are usually to broad to be followed and then one feels bad for not doing so. 

And if you make resolutions and don’t keep them - remember every day is the start of a new year and one can start fresh.

Happy New Year.






Well, storms do not always do what they are predicted to do, and we got 10 inches!  We had spent

       

IT WOULD BE ENOUGH

I managed to get the dining room decorations finished over the weekend.  I also decluttered it a bit - and hid what has to stay a bit better.  The small Christmas tree I put up in there is up and decorated with the brass ornaments we get with our membership in Colonial Williamsburg.  A silverplated tea caddy ornament (we bought the full size caddy on sale one year and the ornament came with it) hangs at the top of the tree instead of an angel or star. 

Sounds simple right?  To get ready to set up the tree I had to store away husband’s DVDs which have accumulated since last Christmas.  The new ones sat on the chest he made to store his DVDs because - yes - it filled a few years ago.  We have a secretary (piece of furniture- drawers with fold down front for desk and shelves above it - green curtain inside hides the shelves and what is on them).  It was bought to be used as a bar and to hold table linens in the drawer.  The shelves held assorted bar and my good glasses.  I have been clearing it out as I can to make room for - yes - more DVDs.  Most of the bottom of the 3 shelves is DVD storage - I donated unneeded, unused glassware in the kitchen last year and moved most of my good glasses to where they had been to make the room for these DVDs.  I just donated a set of small wine glasses we never used earlier this month.  I want to get rid of most if not all of the bar ware as it was rarely used when we had people in and that will give him more room.  But, back to the chest now.  I ended up with DVDs that there was no room for and set them aside.  The chest when it was built by my husband was put on wheels just for this - I pushed it from the living room to the dining room.  Other than having to jump a molding between the living room and front hall, it is easy to push.  It goes against the far wall in the dining room.  The table is moved to the center of the room for this - it is normally pushed against the same far wall.  This gives room in the living room for the big tree (where the chest was) and a place to put the dining room tree.  I put the leftover, homeless DVDs behind the tree and then found a nice throw we received from CW some years ago, folded it in half lengthwise and wrapped the bottom of the tree - and the DVDs behind it - it looks like a nice tree skirt and the DVDs are hidden.

Sunday I also started bringing up the parts of the big tree and stuck them together - and the small tree that goes in our studio.  The studio tree gets ornaments we have made - but some also go on the big tree and all are stored together, so they get decorated together.  I figured - okay, we are close on time, but not too bad to get done before Christmas.  I had planned on Monday night to spread out the branches and make the big tree look nice and add the lights - along with our traditional first 3 items - the angel topper and two angels all stitched by me or my husband. 

Then we got an order on our Etsy account.  We don’t get a lot of orders and they are mostly of the smallest of the items we sell.  This was for a medium priced item and I had to do the paperwork before I started working on the tree - okay, I figured, half an hour.  Yeah, right.  Paypal changed their website and we got so confused trying to buy postage and print the label that we ended up doing it twice and had to cancel one of them.  So the entire evening was gone and no work on the tree.

Tuesday we went to the eye doctor.  He is in the next county so we go to together.  We can’t come home right away as neither of can see enough to drive that much so we go to stores near him.  (Good eye report, thank goodness.)  We ended up having dinner out at Ikea on the way home.  I did get the tree arranged and the lights and first three items on it at night.
Tonight I took the exam I had to take and now the exams are done with until the middle of next year.  But by the time I was done, and taking into consideration doing the laundry and writing to all of you - no time for the tree tonight.  Oh, well, at least gift shopping is over - we are done with his nieces and I will mail checks to my niece and nephew. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One can only do what one can do.  For the Passover holiday in the spring there is a song which translates to “it would have been enough” - it talks about things that God did to help the Jews leave Egypt and after each item is mentioned the refrain is “it would have been enough”.

If the tree is finished at the last minute it will done then.  If it is not finished then however it is, it is finished (and I can always add on after the holiday).  My teddy village will be done when it is done.  It is often not worked on until Christmas Eve or Day or later (I guess that is why it stays up so long). 

My point being that whatever is done when the holiday come is enough.  If stuff is shoved into a bag and stuffed behind a bench - that is good enough if that is all there is time for.  A few years ago for two years we had one little tree with only a limited decorations - and that was enough.

I take the time now to wish all who celebrate, a Pleasant Christmas (merry sounds too demanding).