The Holidays Have Officially Begun

Well, Thanksgiving has officially ushered in the holiday season for 2005. We all drove down to my sister's for dinner, and we had a great time. Being 2 hours closer is very nice, as it made it a decent day trip. I was having such a nice time that I would have liked to have an excuse to stay overnight, but I think Chris was happy to get home and to bed. Driving makes him tired. Well, not driving exactly, since I did all the driving, but riding in the van/car/whatever-vehicle-he-is-traveling-in. My sisters and I noted that in spite of the insult by our non-attending father, we probably had a better time because he was not there. He has never been good at being part of the group when we are all together. We had lots of girly giggle fun, with our husbands all looking on and rolling their eyes, lol, and didn't have to worry about someone who needed hard liquor, who needed to sneak off to the garage for a cigar (yuck!), or who was bothered by the noise of all those kids. Chris was great about chasing Levi around much of the time, so I could spend more time talking with my sisters.

Chris had Friday off of work, so I, totally not thinking, decided it was a good day to go out and shop for a tree, since he finally gave in and consented to let me get an artificial tree. I took two boys with me, thinking what a nice person I was for taking them off of his hands, and drove the van, since the car is still at the garage getting the wheel fixed. On the way down the road I realized what I had done. I was attempting to do shopping on Black Friday. OMG. I am stupid. I usually hide in the house for that whole weekend. I don't like the crowds and parking is always at your own risk, nevermind with a full sized van.

As it turned out, parking was just as scary as I imagined, but shopping wasn't all that bad. The stores were crowded but not crazy, and by 4 pm when we headed home, the roads were not slow at all. I guess everyone else was out early for the sales and went home after lunch. I did find a tree, and brought it home. I also did a bit of grocery shopping too. We were home just after 5.

I set up the tree on Sunday. I guess it takes some practice setting up a fake tree. For sure it is easier than doing a real tree, because the needles can't poke the heck out of you and you don't get sap all over, and there are no needles to vacuum up afterwards. But I did find getting all the branches straightened to be more of a nuisance than I imagined. This tree is a pre-lit, which means that some minimum wage ignorant had to wind strands of lights around the branches before it was packed, so it is harder to position the branches because they are tied together by the light strands. I have to say, I am sure I would have chosen a different path for those wires than the factory person did. Some of it just did not make any sense and branches that are not next to each other are tied by the strings. It was frustrating but I finally got it done in the end. I went back out on Sunday and got a tree skirt and some garland, and I have to say I am pretty pleased. Chris' only comment was that it didn't smell like a Christmas tree. I told him I'd spray it with pine scented air freshener lol.

I have a few pictures of it, even though I don't have any ornaments on it yet, but I have to edit them before I can post them.

The other news of the week is that we've had a tenacious cold going through the house. Poor Levi has had it over a week, and I caught it on Friday night, and a few other boys have stuffy noses. It's not really bad, for the most part, but breathing through the mouth is a drag. I did miss a lot of sleep on Sunday night because of a throat tickle that kept waking me up. I ended up giving up and staying up until 5.

So the holidays are here, the boys are counting down until Christmas, we are playing Christmas music on the stereo and plans are in the making for 8 batches of Christmas cookies (maybe more if I am brave enough to try a new kind). This is the first year in a long time that I am in the mood for it all. Mostly I just dread the effort and mess, and the clean up afterwards. For years it has seemed not worth the effort. But this year I finally am looking forward to making it fun again.

In spite of this, I have also been fighting off some depression. I'm not sure what it is, if it is just a seasonal thing, from the colder weather and the shorter days, or if it is more, but ugh, it's bugging me. I do not want to give up and wallow in it, but it is pulling me down and sapping my energy, and I hate it. The other times I have had it, I gave in to it without a struggle, but this time I'm trying to fight it. Still, it sneaks up on me without warning and suddenly I just feel like crying. Ugh I hate it.