Putting Away Christmas

The only holiday I decorate for is Christmas.  When Max was younger I used to do all of the holidays from paper Valentines on the windows in February to semi-scary looking witches on the front lawn in October.  Slowly but surely the joy of holiday decorating turned into a desperate need for a ride to parties in the burbs and an open palm for "spending money".  Without Max's desire to decorate I let it all go...except of course for Christmas.

Because I host Christmas Eve for about 30 guests each year, I feel obligated to make the holiday festive and that includes full on wooden soldiers, sparkling ornaments, huge fresh tree, Victorian elves and of course lights.  Painstakingly I unpack each ornament and relive a former Christmas.  There are the red threaded apples that my sister and I always hid in the back of our tree growing up because they weren't colorful or sparkly. There is the paper ornament with Max's photo as a three year old in a cowboy hat - he wore that hat for 2 years straight.  There is the ornate Madonna ornament Matty and I purchased our first holiday in Michigan.  I continue with each room.  Green feathered trees and silver beads for the family room;  red/gold ribbons with towering amaryllis for the dining room; Radko ornaments for the silk tree; old time Santas for the mantle, the boxes are everywhere.  It only takes a couple of days to put it together and I actually love the time sitting with a holiday cocktail admiring the effort upon completion

Then it is December 26th and I want it all gone. I find the decor unbearable. The soldiers take on an evil clown quality and the lights remind me of flashing strip club signs.  The whole house looks tacky and cheap.  How quickly it all changes.  It needs to be out of sight..the holiday is over and I am ready to start a new year - one without those obnoxious decorations.

How do you put it all away?  Boxes and boxes and boxes.  This time I don't wait until I am finished... I start the cocktail as I take down the first piece of garland. Seems so depressing.  I close my eyes and pray the holiday fairies will clean it all up while I sleep.  No such luck.  I must put Christmas away.  This takes the entire week between Christmas and New Year.  Mainly because I hate doing it but also because Matty would prefer the decorations stay up until Three Kings.  Ugh.  So I find myself putting away a little at a time so he won't really notice.  Pretty sad but by Jan.1 - the house is back to normal.

No time to write, time to put away more ugliness.  Be gone poinsettias; back to your cabinet wooden soldiers. With the decorations,  pack away the year.  But the bad in the box and store it deep in the basement.  Pour another cocktail and fill another box.

Time to Revive

You probably thought this blog was dead.  But no, it has simply been in a coma deadened by a new job, a son starting high school, an overworked husband and frankly a lack of interest.  However, with so much to say and no other outlet, it is time to defibrillate.

I'm thinking of ways to make it better...  mainly for me ... but also to elicit more comments.  Seems I am more annoyed than ever with the news, with the general population and with daily encounters.  Maybe the older I get, the more cynical I become or maybe it's just that everyone is getting dumber.  Hmm, probably shouldn't "revive" with such a bitter attitude.  Looks like there will be plenty of fodder.

You may have also noticed that I changed the photo and caption to the right.  Max and I are being silly in Disney when my family went over Thanksgiving.  There were 20 of us, 16 from Buffalo.  Quite the adventure, but that will be another blog.  With all of us in the most magical place, I had visions of family photos chronicling this once in a lifetime vacation.  My camera had other visions, all of which were dark, red images.  Guess how many family group shots I have...big fat zero!  Anyway, I will be showing more personal photos on this blog.  Of course, I will need to get a new camera.

So let's start 2011 with some observations and ruminations. Hello Again Blogosphere.  Round two.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Not so itsy and quite expensive.

As the weather cooled, I decided it was time to pu ton the furnace.  Cranked it up Saturday morning but it did not seem to go on.  Called the good doctor who tried his best as well but you know its not his expertise.

Sunday morning we awoke freezing.  I say freezing but actually it was 64.  I like a balmy 72 - ALL THE TIME.  Anyway, the furnace is broke.  Keep in mind this thing is only 4 years old and cost a fortune so the damn thing should be working.  It appears the indicator light is flashing two quick red lights and then stalls for 3 secs and repeats.  According to the manual - can you believe we found it - that means Furnace #2 is down.  How can I even tell which furnace is one or two?

Called the repair guy.  The phone operator stated he would call before he came over but that did not happen, so he was greeted with a less than cleansed woman still in her jammies.  I take him downstairs and he asks me which furnace is the problem.  Seriously?  I don't even know how many I have!  Figure it out fix it guy.

After 1/2 hour and a lot of parts on the floor he comes up to show me an elbow pipe the size of your finger that has some white stuff stuck in it.  Apparently it is a spider web.  He pushes on it and low and behold he comes the creator....still alive!  That damn spider built his web in an integral piece of my furnace.

Problem solve, the furnace is put back together within the hour.  Oh this little animal encounter?  Cost me $212.