Well, Friday was interesting.
Friday, "Kev" came over. Yeah, I still can't use that nickname without wanting to grin, but I see the point. Constantly calling him King Vegeta is confusing. In Hell we called him "Vegeta." Just "Vegeta," but now we have another Vegeta and it gets confusing. So, my son nicknamed him Kev and Kev he has become.
Anyway, he came over so we could talk. And cause I could use some sanding help to be honest. But first, seeing that he had all those problems with the mall, I thought maybe I could share with him a little of the magic Sonya showed me. So, we sat down in front of the computer and I started showing him the whole concept of shop online. Of course, being new to all of that, I got a little confused, so I had to call Sonya herself to help us, but she did a better job than I would have. I think he understands now how it works now. Maybe he can show his son how it works so he won't have to risk the mall anymore.
Some of us were born to shop, but some of us would rather not. Clicking buttons works a lot better for me. I can do it alone, with my laptop and buck naked if I want to. And sorry if I freaked anyone out with that mental image. Heh.
After the shopping lessons, we went out in the shed, which is getting a bit crowded because most of Yamcha and Belle's furniture is still in there. Guys, if you're reading this, when do you want me to drop this stuff off? I thought you might want it before Christmas, so I could drop it off tomorrow if you'd like.
He helped me by doing some sanding, and we talked. Just about general stuff. Funny, we have a habit of looking at life in two completely different directions, but we always manage to have a good talk. He's a man who thinks, who plans. I'm a man who does, and damned the concequences. I'll worry about them later.
And to round off the day, we had lunch and played Chess. Two games, we managed to squeek out, which surprises me because he can take a month between moves. But, he was actually being pretty quick. So we got two good games out. He won one and I won the other, which seems to be our pattern too.
Yeah, it was a good day, Friday.
Yesterday though, we got a tree up. I wasn't sure if Sonya wanted one or not, but I thought the little ones might get a big kick out of having one, it being so bright and glittery, so I went off into the woods, found myself a good tree, cut it down and brought it home.
When I showed it to Sonya, she looked at it, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes glittering. Now, I may be a little slow on the uptake at times, but not that slow. So I asked her what the problem was.
Trying not to laugh, she said, "That's about three feet too big for our house. Are we going to bend it over?"
Gesh, I wasn't thinking, was I? But, thankfully, that problem is easily fixed so I trimmed it down. Now we both realized that we needed something to put the tree in, so it would stand up. I figured I could build something, but again, Sonya pointed out that the tree needed water if it were not to rot, so maybe we'd better think of buying a stand instead, something a bit more waterproof. That also reminded her that we didn't have a damned thing to put on the tree. We've never spent Chrismas together before. Heck, I've never spent Christmas anywhere.
So, we bundled up the kids and went to the stores. Had I thought this out a bit more carefully, I would have ordered decorations online, but I didn't.
The stores were picked over, but we still managed to get some of those teeny lights on a string. And other sparkly stuff on a string you drape around too. And these nice brightly colored glass balls. Still, it didn't look like too much and that was an awful big tree. But, Sonya just smiled and said we'd work it out. She bought a whole bunch of candy canes and some other things.
We brought all that home and I learned there's this great tradition called, "Men hang up the lights." Well, I've seen trees before, so I figured how hard could this be?
A lot harder than it looks. The problem is that while a tree may look perfect, it isn't. So if you loop around the branches, and think you have it, but when you look at it, it looks lopsided and stupid. So, after about 20 tries, I got it to look pretty even. Then, you have to do the same thing with the other stringy stuff. Garland, I guess it's called.
Once we got that stuff up, I got to hold the girls while Sonya put up the glass balls and the other little things we got and the candy canes. She didn't seem to have the problems I had. She'd put a ball here, then put one there, then one over there, now another little thing.. a few candycanes, the next thing I know it, the tree looks just as pretty as one of those trees we saw predecorated at the store. Maybe even prettier.
And Ginger and Cinnamon think it's the best thing since Mama's milk. Turn the lights on and get them close and both of them get this wide eyed look like one of those cartoon characters I see on the TV all the time. Little mouths drop open into round circles and they just stare and stare.
Ginger tries to grab too. She's already almost crushed a couple of the balls. Almost, thankfull, cause they're pretty sharp when they break. Cinnamon likes to reach out and touch them too, but she just grazes them with her fingertips.
So, what have I learned? A Christmas tree can be a big pain in the ass. However, a Christmas tree can delight our daughters. So, in the sum of things, Christmas trees are pretty great.