Decorating for Christmas this year was an exercise in patience and creativity. Patience in trying to find, fluff, and fix all the decorations, lights, and wreaths in the post-move storage plan. Creativity in trying to find new places for things that fit "just so" in our San Antonio home. I swore I had replaced the four-foot tree my roommate and I first purchased in college, but apparently not, as it was never found. The mantle is totally different. All the garland got used up by the front staircase. The wreath hook didn't fit over the storm door. But with the help of Pinterest and several Michael's coupons, we managed to get up plenty of stuff, including four trees, a new mantle display, and a metal sign suction-cupped to the storm door. No lights on the exterior this year, as the house is rather tall and Mark is rather gun-shy after his near broken ankle after a fall from a ladder a couple years ago. Everyone here seems to either "have a guy" who puts up the lights, or just decorates the trees and bushes in the yard. Maybe next year...
Christmas Eve was spent with our neighbors, the Matthews, who invited us over for appetizers and drinks. Cindy decorates to the hilt and our kids enjoyed looking at her 12-foot main tree, the Nutcracker display, the Precious Moments tree and various other decorations throughout the main floor. She and Ricky have three grown daughters, the youngest two still in college. After eating all the Ritz crackers and chocolate chip cookies, our kids watched the Christmas Story movie on TV and waited for us to be ready to leave. No other kids, no toys = no fun. But Mark and I enjoyed the company. We went home to wrap and assemble relatively early.
The first Christmas morning in our Dallas home! The kids woke up at a reasonable hour and were ready to go. Stockings first!
Santa got smart this year and wrapped the dead-giveaway smaller boxes in one large, family box. Totally threw them for a loop which made these next pictures all the more fun.
The aftermath.
I cooked a turkey, much to the dismay of the children, but we had a great day. Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment