Deck those halls
If it's the weekend after Thanksgiving, it's time to pull out the tree and accompanying trimmings. Dad started bringing up random boxes from the basement early today, so just after 9 I started unpacking them. Since I pack the stuff in many little boxes, it takes a while; dad didn't even bring up the tree until about 11. He futzes around in the basement, so every time he'd come upstairs he'd bring another box, rather than bring everything up at the same time. This was good and bad, because it gave me plenty of time to undo everything and even set up our holiday stations, i.e., Santas and snowmen in the family room, snow globes in the dining room, angels in the bathroom, that sort of thing. Mom was out shopping and running other errands; otherwise that's her contribution.
The problem came after we put the tree together. Dad has to string the lights and the garland before I can attack with my dozens of ornaments. However, this was the year he decided to make sure all the lights on the strands we use work; he hasn't done that in a while. Consequently, there's a *lot* of lights that aren't working. So, I get a slight break, which I suppose is nice, but I kind of want to finish up. Mom would like that, too, since the living room looks like a disaster area right now. The good news is that I took advantage of my break to pull out my glue gun and fix up some of the ornaments that have broken over the years. I know there's still one more I can fix, but I piled the ornaments into a couple baskets as I unpacked them and I can't get to it right now. I'm still glad I was able to fix them; most were homemade (including by a very young me) and therefore hold sentimental value.
The problem came after we put the tree together. Dad has to string the lights and the garland before I can attack with my dozens of ornaments. However, this was the year he decided to make sure all the lights on the strands we use work; he hasn't done that in a while. Consequently, there's a *lot* of lights that aren't working. So, I get a slight break, which I suppose is nice, but I kind of want to finish up. Mom would like that, too, since the living room looks like a disaster area right now. The good news is that I took advantage of my break to pull out my glue gun and fix up some of the ornaments that have broken over the years. I know there's still one more I can fix, but I piled the ornaments into a couple baskets as I unpacked them and I can't get to it right now. I'm still glad I was able to fix them; most were homemade (including by a very young me) and therefore hold sentimental value.