The days before Christmas bring all kinds of emotions. One of the most frustrating is getting all the decorations out, untangled, cleaned, repaired, sorted, and put up. This is a year when we are trying to trim down all the things collected over years and years. It does seem impossible, then, that we have bought other stuff. Crazy, I would say. Fresh greens, of course. A huge fresh tree in the main house.... a Norfolk pine and poinsettias ... live, in my little attached house. . I have a new little artificial tree which is up. I almost didn't buy a tree, but couldn't live without one. I keep finding boxes of ornaments and add a few every day or two. I put homemade angles on the Norfolk Pine. I made them with my beloved Beverly, who kept the house on West Lake going while we lived there. We made quite a thing of having both black and white faced angles. She helped my understanding of race and love more than any
one except Yank and Effie when I was growing up. More about them later.
And, the biggest cheerleader for ornaments that I know is Janice. She was an other most wonderful person at my household. She made ornaments every year, we took one to her party and she gave us one she had made. I haven' found hers they are in the unrecovered box. . She helped make my Aunt Frances' last Christmas as good as it could be. I always hold her ornaments and say a prayer for her each Christmas.
I cannot talk about the many Ahhhhhhs that come from Leah as we unwrapped. So many memories for her and I still have many of her growing up decorations. Sterling was in on the Ahhhs too... his memories are clearly etched in his heart.
The stockings. Yes we have enough for the four of us, the three cats ...and our beautiful dog, Annie. Well, we have the stocking, but not a hanger. Please do not tell her when you send her card.
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| Hears in Our Hands, My Mantle |
And... after years and years, there are new hangers for ornaments. I had to have some. They are so beautiful.
My old friend Jane, Mrs. Christmas, herself. Has made me decorations over the years. I treasure every single one. This year I found only one candlestick. I have them all, Santa's, carefully packed away and I cannot find them. So when people look at the one lone candle holder and shake their head, I will tell them the story of all the years that the Santa's were lovingly painted, and how humble I am to have gotten many of them.
I cannot tell the decoration story without the story of my lighted deer. Ralph and I traveled a lot during the month of December (never knew why the Joint Commission surveyed in December..). One year we were driving through the mountain town of Boone, NC. In front of their town hall there were several lighted deer. One of them gently put her head to the ground as if eating grass, and gracefully lifted it again. They were beautiful. When we got home in Raleigh, I announced that my first priority was to buy some deer for the front Yard at 8705 West Lake Dr. For the very first time, Ralph announced that he would not have those things at his home. I was shocked. How could it be that a thing I thought was so beautiful not be acceptable. Well, at 4711 Ludwell, and 7205 Timber Lane, my Deer are shining brightly.
I have lost some of my favorite things.... this weekend I will do a search and seizure mission. I am missing the Santa that hung of the door corner..and the Santa's that Jane made.
Remembering last year...... Jeff did most of the decorating. This is so meaningful... This year I will not be sharing with them. I am there in spirit. I am in Florida with Suze, Rosie and Jamie and some I have yet to meet, in Maryland with Nancy and Sean, Brett, Kira, Jason, Carol, and all, and in Virginia with Jim and Mary...and will be remembering Gracie and Sophie. I will be dreaming of every single person in North Carolina.
My front door sports a red berry wreath, seems such a happy one. My laundry room has a lighted wreath to assist with the front of the house decorations.
Cookies were the real order of business today. Leah woke me with an announcement that she was not going to work, and today was cooking day. She knows that I have been deeply depressed...yes, I admit it. My issue around my health has not been shared with all of you. I will do that after Christmas in detail, but for now..... I will be having surgery sometime after December 28 for something in my abdomen. Just add prayers please that this is just another little stumbling block. It has made me crazy and my daughter will never ever know how wonderful it was that she choose to spend time with me today and that Sterling was hanging around too.
Guess Who...Goofing Off
We finished Macadamia Nut, Old fashioned Chocolate Chip, Nutty fingers, .... more will get baked tomorrow. I want to make a Coconut Cake, (Alyce told me she was baking pound cake...ohhhh wish I had a bite of that right now.) I have on my list some stuffed dates, shortbread, spritz..... We are doing something a bit different for Dinner on Christ Day.... Seafood. Many of you will remember the crazy and wonderful Emerald Isle Christmas in 2007. We had wonderful seafood. So the four of us will repeat the tradition this year. Yummmmmmm
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| Christmas at Emerald Isle Almost all of Use Were There |
Now we are counting, tomorrow is Christmas Eve... hopefully I will have some Oyster Stew..... More about our Holiday later. I am looking forward to hearing from each of you and that your time was loving and wonderful.
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