Lemony Snicket

We went to the movies this afternoon to see "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." I cannot believe that this film was advertised as "a must-see holiday movie for the entire family." More than that, I can't believe that we wasted our time on this movie.
(If you want to see a holiday movie, then go see The Polar Express.)

My shoulders were aching when we left the theatre today... the film was so dark and dreary and so scary in some parts that I was keeping my shoulders scrunched up near my ears. I know my husband likes Jim Carrey, but honestly, we both could've done without this one.

Gorgeous day out there today.... temperatures warming back up, lots of sun. You'd never know we had half an inch of snow on Christmas Eve if you hadn't seen it yourself. We saved the headlines from the front page of The Houston Chronicle on Christmas Day. Part of the headline read "Sometimes, the best gifts are free" and the photo showed three snowmen on the beach in Galveston.

I started to un-decorate the house today. Little by little, the Christmas things will be going back into the storage closets. I've taken down the display of Christmas cards and I have them in a pile near my desk here. I'll go through them all once again and save the fronts of the cards. I use them to make package decorations and gift tags. All the Christmas towels have either been put away or they're in the washing machine. Tomorrow, I'll walk around the house and put away all the little Santas and angels that are scattered around the house.

I'm hoping to get the big tree in the living room undecorated and out on the lawn for the trash pick-up on Thursday. The tree still looks pretty, but it's getting very dry now and it's losing its needles. Everytime one of the cats goes underneath the tree, they come out covered in needles which end up all over the carpeting. AngelBoy spends so much time under that tree that he's beginning to smell like a furry little fir tree himself.

Looks like there will be just six of us going out to dinner on New Year's Eve. Smaller group this year than last year. Lots of couples will be either out of town or they've already made other commitments. I've made up a few little favors, just to make our table at the restaurant look a bit more festive, and each couple will have a little keepsake from the dinner. (I found candles in the shape of small wine bottles, and fancied them up with ribbons and truffles.)

That's about it... slow day today.... didn't get much done because we went out to see that movie. So here's my tip for the day-- don't bother spending the money for a ticket for dreary old Lemony Snicket.