Thank you for finding That Old House amidst the chaos of the Internet. We are delighted that you are here.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Ho, Ho, Ho . . . No, No No!


Oh.  Dear.

In the words of Alice's White Rabbit:
"I'm late!  I'm late!  For a very important date!"

Do you realize it's only 2 weeks until Christmas?
No need to panic.  You can leave all that to me.

I am awed by the people who by now have their houses all decorated, their cookies all baked,
their gifts all wrapped, and already know what they are wearing to church on Christmas Eve.

I am not sure we are the same species.

**************************************************
What?  You didn't know that dinosaurs also visited Bethlehem? Where did you go to Sunday School?
 *************************************************
At That Old House, there are still lots of these sitting around cluttering up the landscape:


 and they are all full of things like this:
and this:
Tree skirts and ornaments
and this:
Hey look!  It's ME!

**************************************************
The Great Tree Hunt is on the docket for Saturday.  Howard wanted to cross the border into peaceful Pennsylvania and whack a poor unsuspecting fir tree (we New Jerseyans, we whack), but we've pretty much run out of time for raiding sorties into beautiful Bucks County, axe in hand.

Instead, we'll probably do what we did last year: get a tree at the Historical Society's annual sale, pay too much for it, shrug and say, "It's for a good cause."  Because it is, and they have nice trees.

And once again, my dear husband will take down the sunroom chandelier,
and wrestle with a big prickly sticky huge fresh tree that will fight him all the way . . . but Howard will win.
That's last year's tree on the floor, bound and gagged.  And that is Howard, winning my heart all over again with his skilled use of the Dyson.  It's better than roses or candy, fellas.
**************************************************
My sister sends her husband out to buy their fresh tree.  Without her.

I can think of only a few explanations for this bizarre behavior:
1) She hates to be outside in the cold.
2) Her husband is an excellent judge of tree worthiness.  (Oh, yes, I do crack myself up.)
3) This gives her the opportunity to tell him over and over again, all through the happy 12 days of Yule,
     what is wrong with the tree he chose.

She says it's reason #1.  But we know better, don't we?
 **************************************************
 Settling down to blogging is getting more and more challenging,
as my brain is splintering into ever-tinier shiny shards of random Christmas stuff.

 
I'm sure nearly all of you have brains in a similar state.

And I know that this year I will do what I have done every year:  I will do what I can.
When day dawns on December 24th, I will say, "Enough."
 
I will relax and enjoy being with my husband and my girls, soak in the Christmas Eve services, kvell at hearing Annie sing O Holy Night in the hushed and candle-lit church, wish dear friends a Merry Christmas at midnight in that special deep still darkness of Christmas Eve, go home to indulge in once-yearly egg nog with my daughters, and of course go to sleep way too late, only to wake ridiculously early on Christmas morning.

 A part of me still expects to have little rosy pajama-clad munchkins up at 6 AM,
stumbling down the stairs in the semi-darkness, eager to see if Santa came.

Do you remember the shock on the first Christmas morning you had to wake your kids?

*************************************************
Today, it's on with the roller skates, and out the door and into the shops.
By tonight?  A decorated mantel would be nice, and the Christmas tablecloths sorted and ironed.
And a pillow or two scattered about:


For many other projects, I need a second pair of hands.

God bless weekends, and willing husbands.

Have yourself a Merry Getting-Ready-For-Christmas Season, complete with the bling and the songs and the baking and the running around, and also complete with the quiet contemplations of Advent.  Joy to the world!  -- Cass

19 comments:

  1. Oh Thank You!! Looking around Blogland, I was sure I was the only 1/2 decorated and mostly cluttered human on the planet!! I try to do a little everyday, but I have realized that it is no fun to do it alone. (Not much is!) So I get at it mostly on weekends, when the Big Guy is home....what ever happened to my "get it done" attitude? I think I may just be stuck to this chair reading about other people's beautiful Christmas displays!!! HoHoHo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CAss...you always make me laugh too too too much.... don't worry....I'm in the same situation..I have to make the kitchen crib.... and I don't have any dinosaur...it's unfair...I want it!!!!...But wait...in this moment there is a huge hairy snorkling dog on my sofa!!!!!....aaaaaaaaahhhhh...if hubby knows...ahahahahah, love and blessings to you all. Flavia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Cass- Thank you ...thank you...thank you...I was sure I was the sole survivor of BlogLand's undecorated to the hilt houses. I got a tree up...but I have soooo much to do...and tomorrow is THE DAY! I'm gonna put on my big girl panties and DO IT! (decorate the house that is..seeing as I mentioned panties in the same sentence as DO IT). Have a great weekend!

    ps...So dinasours, contrary to scientific beliefs, been around in the last 2000+ years?>)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post! Great attitude! And let's hear it for Howard!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Cass,
    I can alwayas count in you to give me a laugh!
    Love the dinosaur visiting the Christ child by your Nativity scene. ;-)
    I was forced to get everything done early because we're having a party on the 18th, otherwise I'm sure I'd be about where you are right now. Actually, I do have several storage tubs that are still sitting in the middle of the hallway floor.....forgot about those!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Panic at the disco! You need your own comedy routine...your sister is an odd bird...who does that?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was JUST saying that it seems like those 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas simply fly by lately. I vote we change it to eight weeks! Like you, I have boxes strewn about, decorations half up and all of the entertaining begins this weekend. And I haven't finished my shopping (sigh) But luckily I still do have pajama clad little feet (for a few more years anyway) scurrying down the stairs Christmas morning and that makes it all worth it :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm glad it's not just me! I think what you have done looks lovely. That staircase is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I would love to hear the story of the dino since you don't have little ones in the house. I am 95% done with decorating for Christmas, but I just can't get that last 5% finished. Now for Christmas shopping - what's that. I haven't even started. And don't come to my Christmas party next week because I have no idea what you are going to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Cass!
    I just love your "that old house"! I could live very comfortably there :-)
    I'm new to your blog and its delightful! I especially got a big smile from the dinosaur at the Manger!
    Merry Christmas to you!
    Warmest Regards,
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh PLEASE do tell the dinosaur at the manger story, or I will just believe the hungry ghosts put him there.

    Cheer up - - - at least you're going to HAVE a tree. This place is too small, and no one but FH and I will be here, so for the first time EVA in my life - - - no tree.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great post Cass! Oh, the first year I had to TRY to wake the boys up. They were still quite young, but exhausted... I'm up by 5 every day anyway and had a cup of coffee. I set up a new train around the tree waiting for them. 6AM, second (or third) cup of java... I'm tooting the horn on the train. 7AM (so much caffeine I could have run a marathon)... I'm "Ho-Ho-Ho-ing"... Actually checked for breathing before the time they stumbled out to the living room:@)
    Happy decorating!

    ReplyDelete
  13. My place is not decorated to the hilt, and certainly no cookies have been made. Did do some shopping today. I am starting to do less each year.
    Enjoy your weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Does Howard really take down the chandelier every year just to put up the tree?...He's a keeper that Howard!!
    And let me ask why the dinosaur has on a graduation cap?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Cass...First let me say, your house is just gorgeous. Secondly, this post had me laughing out loud a few times. I only take photos of the rooms that are done...and that would be one room, the living room. I have many boxes still strewn about as well. I might manage to unpack them and get them down to the basement by Christmas Eve, if I'm very, very lucky! My husband loves to use the Dyson too, hee hee. Yes, it is indeed better than candy!

    Looking forward to reading more.:)

    H.H.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Here HERE! to willing husbands! Don't ever want to know what I'd do without mine. Those trees and boxes get harder to haul down the stairs every year, but he makes it look so easy... Cute post, Cass!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Welcome to my world. Bins everywhere. Laundry piled up. No baking done. No appies done. Very little shopping done. I think I will just drink my way through the season. Lo.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love the dinosaur at the manger scene. Thank goodness for vacuuming husbands, I agree, MUCH better than roses! (And we won't talk about my house, I am TRYING to get done decorating, though!) Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Cass,

    Thank you for this post and the much needed smile. I have a theory about the bloggers that are completed with Christmas 'chores' by Thanksgiving eve...they have a Christmas room in their home that features decor that never comes down and doors only opened during the Christmas season. Hopefully, I will be done by Monday but probably not.

    Your Friend,
    Deborah

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting That Old House; it's always exciting to find new comments -- they are treasured! Because of increasing spam, I have reluctantly eliminated "Anonymous" commenting. Legitimate anonymous commenters, please forgive me! You might try using "Open ID" instead. Blogger's spam software worked for a good long time, but, sadly, no longer.