So here we are, settled back in at home. Our Florida vacation was much too short. :(

I spent the morning unpacking all our clothes and doing laundry while Theseus gathered up his military gear. He has an equipment inspection this weekend at drill, so our car will be filled with musty duffle bags and stacks of mostly-unused clothing. Army gear has a distinctive smell to it - a mix of wet dogs, rust and sour milk. Fellow Soldiers: you know what I'm talking about, right?
    
In the afternoon I went for a run and came back to find Theseus and the baby out in the yard, putting up the Christmas lights. This year we're going a bit crazy, but since we didn't put out a single decoration the last two years, I think it's justified. I mean, five trees isn't excessive, right? Because that's how many we're having this year. :)

[Well, two of them are mini, two-foot trees with lights only, on either side of the fireplace. One is four feet tall, also lights only, and is in the baby's room. The fake one is in the family room and the real one, when we get it next week, is going in the living room. Totally not excessive.]

So outside we have icicle-lights, a row of mini spiral trees lining the front walk, and lights in the big tree on the corner of our yard. Theseus also wants to use our vintage globe-lights to create something else outside, but we aren't sure what it will look like yet. I'm not completely sold on the idea of more lights ouside. I'm trying to contain our craziness indoors, ya know?

While Theseus worked on the lights, I climbed up on the roof and cleaned the gutters, then amused the baby until he was done. One of our neighbors wandered over and introduced himself - it was nice to finally meet him. They were all so wonderful last winter when I was pregnant and Theseus was deployed. After each storm, without fail, the guys from the two houses across the street came and snow-blowed (snow-blew?) the plow bank at the end of the driveway. This year I will be thanking them with cookies, I think.

After that was done, we had dinner and then put up the fake tree in the family room. It looks --- ok, I guess. I thought I had more decorations. Maybe a box got lost in one of our moves? In any case, I need to go out and get some more. The tree in the family room has all our mismatched, random ornaments and multi-colored lights. The real one, when we get it, will be a formal tree - red and green decorations only, white lights.

I have plenty of decorations for the formal tree. But our mismatched tree... I don't know. I always loved the decorations my family had when I was young - so much character, so many memories. Each one was unique and had a story; it was a joy to unpack the ornaments each year. Our tree this year just feels bland. Maybe I need to try harder to find interesting ornaments.

Ok well, that's about it for now. Really just wanted to pat myself on the back for being productive today, ended up babbling on about my Christmas trees. I need to get a life.

- Antiope

Meg
11/30/2011 07:25:45 am

mismatched trees grow beautiful over time. Heirloom ornaments help though.

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