It is done. The Christmas tree is up. Let’s just hope it stays that way.
Decorating for Christmas is always much more stressful than I remembered. It’s still fun, but different from the way it was growing up. Then, dad always had to deal with the unpleasantries like getting the tree to sit straight in the stand and unfurling all the lights. I did the fun stuff, like adding ornaments.
Now, it is up to Lee and me to do it all – and getting the tree to be straight in the stand and not fall is no simple task. Many of you have heard about the disaster that was last year. I won’t repeat it now.
This year’s tree went up with considerably less drama. There was still some drama with other decorations though.

We bought some new lights to string around the kitchen. They are really cute red bulbs. And they’re real glass. We learned this when one touched the ceramic tile of the kitchen floor and exploded. Then another touched the stove and cracked.
We were trying to find a secure, but non-permanent way to affix them to our ceiling all the way around the kitchen. We tried thumbtacks. I was nervous, because I knew if they fell, there would be glass explosions everywhere. Sure enough, as Lee is putting up the last few tacks, the first lights we put up started to fall. You could hear the “ping” as the tacks fell from the ceiling and hit the floor, and like dominoes, the lights began to fall.
By some miracle, they didn’t break, and didn’t all fall. A few moments later, more start to come down. So we did what anyone would do. Got the staple gun.
Those lights are not going to fall. They may never come down, and if they do, there will be millions of little holes in the wall — but it’s Christmas! And they really are quite festive. Despite the trouble, I like them a lot.
The season isn’t over. They could still get too hot and burn the house down, or the tree could fall and impale the cat or something, but I doubt it. And I’m just grateful to have a house and husband with whom to share the decorating.
Merry Christmas!