My parents went out last night, to the annual tree trimming party hosted by their friends. Dad won third place for his ornament, which I think was a little cabin that lit up. Mom made me look at pictures on Facebook. They didn't get back until close to 1 AM, and were not up for much today. Dad didn't even get up 'til almost 11. Luckily, mom ( Read more... )

It's pathetic tree time! *hums "Christmas Time Is Here ( Read more... )

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, meaning it's time for me to put up the tree. This year, emphasis on me; my parents are visiting my grandparents today. I know, we just saw each other, but since mom had a four-day weekend, she decided to go over there to help clean her dad's place. It's been a while since we last were there, and now that my ( Read more... )

My dad made the most of yesterday, cleaning up bits of the yard while the weather was good. The main thing he did was trim the tree by the front door. Apparently my parents got it for $5 soon after we moved in; we've gotten our $5 out of it, definitely. It's about as tall as the roof, and that's with him having trimmed it down several years back ( Read more... )

The final stage of tree removal happened today. After the trees came down several weeks ago, the stumps were left alone for a while. Last week, small construction horses appeared near them, and on Saturday the ones by us were ground down. I happened to be gone when it happened and was stunned that the city would work on a Saturday. As it turned ( Read more... )

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 ( Read more... )

While mom and I were out cavorting on Saturday, dad was busy planting the arbor vitaes. He ended up putting them next to the garage; they look nice there. Yesterday he decided to tackle the overgrown evergreen by the door. It had gotten taller than the house, and so wide around that it's hard to get on the porch. Frankly, I didn't mind that, as ( Read more... )

We were all pretty beat yesterday. Mom was the most ambitious and made a beer bread mix. The crust was fabulous--yes, I tried it--but the inside was kind of funky-tasting. Not sure if it was the beer or what. Dad and I did go grocery shopping, but he managed to forget the checkbook. Luckily he remembered that he didn't have it before I'd even ( Read more... )

Several years ago, my dad picked up blue LED lights because he thought they were cool. My mother, however, is very picky when it comes to decorations and would not let him put them up. He never used them, and I joked he should just drape the motorcycle with them for the holidays. A few weeks ago, he said maybe he'd put them up over the garage, ( Read more... )

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, which traditionally means time to put up the Christmas decorations in my house. I think we've been a bit lax in recent years, but since I've been off and therefore have the time, I had no problem doing it this year. It also snowed/is snowing, so between that and the Christmas tunes I played, we were in the ( Read more... )