Saturday Stuff... and All Stuffed Up

Gorgeous Saturday... bright sun, breezy, warm temperatures. So nice that my husband decided to spend the morning decorating the front of the house with Christmas lights. I've had that job for the past few years, just because my husband was too busy. I had mastered the strings of lights and last year I got the job done in less than an hour. (Very easy, since we have a one-story house.)

My husband took more than an hour, but he also used more lights. When he started out there this morning, I had visions of an eight-hour project, being that last night on one of the cable channels, we saw a program featuring over-the-top Christmas light displays. So of course, I was hoping that my husband didn't want to go up on our roof and spell out Merry Christmas in red and white lights.

We have two life-sized reindeer for the front yard... those white-framed deer wrapped in white lights. I found them last year at a yard sale. A couple of years ago, our neighbor H got together with my husband and they came up with an elaborate plan for decorating every house on our cul de sac. It was H's idea for each of the fifteen houses on our street to have a reindeer in the front yard. Then my husband thought that it would be great if the house at the back end of the cul de sac could have Santa's sleigh in the yard. Then the idea grew--- with all the reindeer being "connected" with strings of white lights. Of course, the connections would have to break for each of the driveways, but H and my husband would've worked that out.

Sadly, H and her husband M moved away last year... up near Austin to be near their son and new granddaughter. A happy move for a good reason, and while we were thrilled for them, we felt sad not to have H and M on our street. It was a bittersweet moment last year when the white-lighted reindeers went up in the front yards here. Not every house has them, and the plans for connecting all of them never happened, and the house at the end doesn't have Santa's sleigh, and probably never will. However, if H were still here, I've no doubt that she and my husband would've been successful with their outdoor decorating plan. I had found four reindeer at the yard sales last year. My neighbor V took one of them, my neighbors R & M took another. My husband and I kept the last two for our yard, with the thought that one was for us, one was for H.

I've spent most of the day indoors, except for going out to the backyard to feed the birds, and going out to the front yard for a few minutes to hold the light strings for my husband while he wrapped them around the biggest tree out front. I am all stuffed up, my cold has gotten worse, and I'm sure it's the flu and not just a simple cold. All I've been eating since Thanksgiving is left-over sweet potatoes, left-over stuffing, orange juice and oranges, and tea with honey. My friend A said she has homemade lentil soup in her freezer, so she's bringing me some. I would like a pot of lentil soup big enough to cover me up to my neck. Even with the warm temperatures today, I just can't seem to get warm enough.

And... speaking of birds... while my husband was out walking Gracie this morning, he saw two hawks near the park. He said they were huge, with at least four-feet-wide wing spans. I asked him if he thought a bird that size could pick up AngelBoy. My husband said he didn't want to find out. Needless to say, I'm still looking in the treetops when I let AngelBoy in the yard. And his time out there these days is very limited. Not a happy little camper, that cat, but that's life in the forest. After seeing that hawk in the yard a few days ago, I just can't get that picture out of my mind.... of AngelBoy being whisked away in the talons of a huge hawk. Gracious... just the thought.....

We haven't started to decorate the tree in the living room yet. It's resting nicely and seems happy to be there. Beautiful shape to that tree. My husband will start with the lights either tonight or tomorrow. I should be feeling well enough by Monday to do the ornaments.

I had mailed my sister's Christmas package up to her last week and it was delivered the day after Thanksgiving. She called me when it arrived, and I told her to pick out the tiniest package and open it, which she did. So in our book, Christmas has begun. She is mailing my package out on Monday. When that gets here, we'll start calling one another a couple of times a week, and opening one gift each while we're on the phone. Our husbands think we're nuts, and they make fun of our pre-Christmas gift-opening. We've been doing this since I moved here. Somehow, it works for us, no matter what the guys think.

And that's about my story of the day. A little of this, a little of that. As for me... I am still all stuffed up. I hate feeling sick. All stuffed up.... and no place to go. Which is good. I don't feel like going anywhere at all.