10 on the 10th: December!

While this isn’t the “Hey, guys, guess what? Nigel’s walking!” post I’d like to write, the good news is we met with the surgeon today. First off, Nigel had worn his Wabash College coat. Nigel went to Purdue; our oldest (and a whole lot of our money) went to Wabash College. But, so did Nigel’s surgeon! So, we had some laughs and shared some memories from Josh’s time as well as the surgeon’s. One of the things Wabash is known for is oral comprehensives…as in to graduate…you must complete oral comprehensives in your major. Nigel’s surgeon double majored in biology and chemistry! Wabash is a tough school, so this guy is one smart dude! I think that set the tone for the whole appointment because he was so much more affable than before. But, I digress. The good news is that he was happy with Nigel’s walking and general improvement. There’s still that “mossy” area which will probably require a CT scan in the New Year to fully understand what it is. Apparently, the MRI (or whatever…I’ve lost track) indicated Nigel has some really weird “sh*t” (to use the surgeon’s word) going on in his bones. It’s not cancer…thank goodness…but it’s weird. He didn’t seem concerned about it. But, I think we’ll be seeing him for a long time. The other good news is that he’s confident Nigel will walk without a walker soon. He may need a cane for a long time or the rest of his life. But, I’ll take that over the walker and wheelchair any day of the week. I do want to take this time to thank all of you for your kind words and prayers when I had a bit of a melt down on the preview. It’s still tough, and it will continue to be tough for a while. We have made it through other things, and we’ll get through this, too. Thank you, again!

So, how are you all doing with Christmas preparations? I have to tell you, I’m still not done. I think I only have a couple of things to do, and then I remember.

• I still need to get out the Christmas pillows (yes, I have Christmas pillow covers).
• I need to decorate my bathroom (that will take two minutes if I’d just do it).
• I need to unwind the portion of the lights on the prelit tree that are dead so I can replace them with new ones (told you I was cheap). I got one tree done on Monday.
• I have to wrap all those doggone gifts. I always say I’m going to wrap them as they come in, but, in reality, it’s so much easier to just do it all at once.
• There’s something else, but I can’t remember what it is!
• I remembered…getting the felt wreath out of the front hall closet and hanging it in the bedroom on my armoire! But, I still think there’s something else.

Without further ado…

When I was teaching, we were always told to start conferences with the good things! I hope I have more good than bad!

My first has to be having the house all decorated. There is just something so wonderful about twinkling lights, special decorations, and my garlands here, there, and everywhere. If you want to see what the house looked like last year, you can find that here. I actually used that post’s photos to help me decorate this year. And, yes, I am just that obsessive about things going in the same place.

The second is burning Christmas candles. I received a jar candle (Gold Canyon’s Christmas Presence) as a Christmas gift from one of my students a long time ago. I loved it so much, I bought more. I even convinced my daughter to buy one. This smell, to both of us, is Christmas in a jar! But, alas and alack, Gold Canyon went out of business at some point in time. I had one large and one small candle left. I gave my daughter the small one (I’m nice, but I’m not that nice). For years, we tried to find a replacement. Each of us would light our “real” candles for a few moments each Christmas Day. Then, last year, she told me she’d discovered this site, Sunset Canyon Candles, and there was our candle, now known as Christmas Cottage. I just may need to stock up in case something happens to this company!

Next would be baking. I love to bake, but I’ve really been cutting back on carbs and sugar. But, Nigel’s favorite cookies are sugar cookies at Christmas time. Well, he says that, but I’ve never seen him turn down a cookie! I also bake those peanut butter blossom cookies. It seems like, when they first came out, you used those swirled chocolates instead of the Hershey kisses. Does anyone else remember that? Just me? Hmmm… After the holidays, I do bake this new to me last year sandwich cookie. It’s, basically oatmeal cookies filled with a date nut mixture. Nigel and almost anyone who tries them love them. But, they take lots of work so that’s why I wait until after the holidays.

The fourth thing I like about Christmas is buying gifts for my people. I don’t know if gift giving is a love language or not. I know it’s mine. I love to give my people gifts. I especially like giving them gifts they want so I always ask for a list. When the grands were little, it was so much easier because they just wanted toys! We aren’t at the stage where they just want money yet, but I can see that day coming. Can you guess who the most difficult one is? If you guessed Nigel, you’d be correct! I usually only buy him a bottle or two of really nice cologne. I pick it out…he bathes in it! I kid you not!

Next would be going to Winterlights. We have been going as a family for several years now. It’s kinda the kick off to our holidays. We went this past year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. That’s their kickoff night, and tickets are less expensive. I think it’s also their dress rehearsal because lots of lights seemed to be out. But, we love it anyway. You can read about it (or just look at the photos) here and here. I didn’t do a new post this year, but my grandson is even taller this year!

This one kinda piggy backs off of number five. It’s seeing all the houses decorated for the holidays. Some of the people in the neighborhood just to the west of us go all out. I think they must have lights they can preprogram because they have an amazing Halloween display, too. We don’t go out and about as much as I’d like because I’ve got a baby cataract which makes driving a little iffy. Nigel isn’t driving much yet. But, I can see them in our neighborhood.

Christmas concerts are a joy! Last week, we attended our oldest granddaughter’s choir concert. Let me tell you…high school concerts are a production…in a huge way! We could pick her out by her hair! She has the thickest, long curly hair! I’d like to say she gets that from me (hahaha), but I’m pretty sure she gets it from her Greek daddy (though there is curly hair on my dad’s side of the family). Next week, I’m going to my youngest granddaughter’s orchestra concert. She plays the violin, and I am just swept away by how beautifully they play. I think this is her third year of playing. The orchestra director is amazing because she truly brings out the best in all of the students.

Anticipation is my eighth one and probably a weird one, but I love the waiting part. I love waiting to receive all the packages (and being surprised at how many there are). I love waiting to see my people open their gifts. I even love waiting in line to buy (and return) the gifts. I always anticipate some missteps but haven’t had as many since I now ask for lists.

OK, on to the bad. I really, really dislike the actual decorating of the house. I know that sounds dumb. But, I take absolutely no pleasure in putting this there, moving that here, and shuffling tubs all around. I actually packed things away, labeled tubs, and made a spreadsheet on Excel thinking that would help. It did, but I’m thinking I need to redo it according to space rather than item. That, however, means I need to empty out all the tubs. They are now filled with the items the Christmas items replaced…does that make sense? I’m so impressed by Deb at Debbie-Dabble Blog. I’m not linking to specific posts because, trust me, there are lots. But, do visit her and tell her Marsha sent you! You will be amazed!

This one seems counterintuitive to my third one. I hate baking sugar cookies! It’s not the sugar cookies, themselves. It’s the rolling them out, cutting them out, and then decorating them as well as the cleaning up after I’m done. I’m a messy baker. I used to be able to get my grands to come and decorate them. These days, it’s just me doing it. No one seems to really mind how ugly they are because they are scrumptious!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

How about that! I was able to actually come up with ten items with no problem at all! But, I’m skipping putting in any cute photos. I don’t have any on my laptop! I know, it’s weird, right? So, can we talk? How do you feel about decorating for the holidays? Do you have any traditions for December? How do you feel about baking sugar cookies? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.

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