Part of the problem was that when I undecorated the house last Christmas nothing was put away in any kind of order. Found the tree lights, but only one color of ornaments, spent forever looking for the rest of them and found them in some weird place. So the tree took 2 days to get done. And then it was finding where everything else was. Mac says that when we undecorate this year that we need to get rid of some stuff and I agree, as well as packing the rest of it up in a more orderly manner instead of just tossing it into boxes.
The gift wrapping was interesting, for the first 2 hours Miss Kitty lay on my legs flicking a paw at things, then she fell asleep with her head on my leg and I couldn't move, so I wrapped whatever I could reach. There was a litter of Amazon boxes around me. I do 95% of my shopping online, hate crowds, hate malls and you see the same thing in every store. Today I got the rest of things wrapped, well I say wrapped, most of it was put in Christmas bags I've collected over the years. Half-way through Mac brought me a tub that had all my ribbons and other finishing touches, so part of the packages are decorated and half aren't.
He carried loads of them down to the tree, oh, didn't I say, the wrapping takes place upstairs. Each year I swear I'll do it down stairs, but there just isn't any place to do it. Though I think that if I wrapped things as they came in it would be better.
Then I kicked or threwempty boxes down the stairs. You know I just thought, maybe we ought to put the Christmas tree upstairs, um.
After that I made more cookies and didn't forget they were in the over, so they're the right color. While I was doing that I had gingerbread dough chilling in the refrigerator. Tried to cut out gingerbread men, but they kept falling apart, so we have gingerbread snowmen. They have a nice round shape, not unlike my own, and know how not to fall apart.
While this was all going on Mac was decorating out front, he made me a snowman and a Santa Claus, put wreaths on the windows and fence and decorated the front porch. I think we're about ready.
So I'll share the photos of the work Mac has done.
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| The Lantana should have lost its leaves by now, but hasn't |
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| Mac made a a wooden Santa, he's next to my Narnia lamppost. |
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| He also made me a snowman to go with my deer. |
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| Looking up the front steps |
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| A closer look at my tin soldier and a small reindeer. |
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| Poinsettias |
Gingerbread snowmen, I like it!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain on the decorations upheaval. Seems everyone just wants to be through when Christmas is over. I'm vowing to do a better job this year too. Your new Santa is really cute with his pack of toys.
ReplyDeleteIt's looking a lot like Christmas at your house.
ReplyDeleteYou are all ready! Good for you! I am going to start one of these days:)
ReplyDeleteI like Mac's yard art, and the second to last photo really caught my eye. My uncle made a reindeer puzzle like yours for my daughter when whe was two. It sat under our tree every year after that, smelling like Christmas because he made it out of cedar, and now it sits under her tree. It has a habit of collapsing at the wrong moment and always made us laugh.
ReplyDeleteYou may have started something new with gingerbread SNOWmen. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour house looks very festive. Did you put lights outside.
Oversea boxes and cards are mail. Now just the States.
cheers, parsnip
I think you've got the right idea about packing up neatly - it's a nice present to give to yourself. At the time it seems like pain in the neck, but when you come to unpack whatever it is another time, you find yourself thanking yourself for that earlier organisation. (Well, I do, anyway!)
ReplyDeleteVery Festive. Your front walkway is lovely. Mac did a good job on the outside. Gosh, I was laughing at your Gingerbread men turning into snowmen...that's quite an accomplishment. HaHa.
ReplyDeleteI have clear bins, and so I can tell which is Christmas, Fall, and Spring. I spent too many years trying to find where I had put things. When we moved from the large parsonage to a small apartment after retiring, I did the clear bin Idea and it worked great. Once in a while I do something right!!!
All you need now to complete the scene is a load of snow!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is very mild here - snow is not expected, and I suspect that it is even less likely that you will see any.
I like the sound of gingerbread snowmen! You can never deny a cat a lap to sleep on no matter how inconvenient it may be. Your front drive, steps and door look very festive:)
ReplyDeleteTwo hours of gift wrapping sounds like an eternity and a bit! Your decorations look very inviting and heart warming. I have yet to get organised....
ReplyDeleteI can see that Christmas is on its way. Our cat helps with gift wrapping too. She's also into eating the ribbons on the gifts that are under the tree!
ReplyDeletexx
I totally get the Christmas decorations saga, every year I swear I will be better organised and put them away in a sensible fashion, but by the time comes round I ready to have them out of my sight and just make a dash job of it. I really should learn
ReplyDeleteI wrapped for about three hours today, and I didn't have much to do, no idea why it took so long. Two things left to wrap and then I am done. Thank goodness. I know that I undecorated badly last year too, so not looking forward to the decorating. You are certainly right, it pays to be organised doesn't it! xx
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