Jingle bells....

I've got to stop looking in that consignment shop. Every time I go there, I find something else, either to give as a gift, or to work into the decorations already all over this house. Somehow, this house never gets too Christmas-ed up.... it just all works. (Then again, I like things over-the-top.) There are two gold-glittered reindeer now sitting in front of the fireplace screen-- and today's 20%-off special at the consignment shop was anything with legs. Twenty percent off of anything with legs, and that included legs on furniture, or legs on Santas and angels and reindeer. So the two gold reindeer came home with me and seem to be quite happy. Besides all the gold glitter they're sprinkled with, there are tiny bells hanging from their antlers and when you move them, the jingle is soft and sweet and very Christmas-y.

Some of our friends are bringing their friends to our Christmas party. When they called to RSVP, they asked me if they could bring along another couple. Well, why not? It's a party... and the more, the merrier. And there's a little jingle-bell ornament by our front door that says "The Merry Starts Here." Just in case we had extra people at the party, I had bought candles and holiday candy dishes and Christmas pins.... no one walks out of here without a gift from Santa.

When our next-door neighbor RSVP'd for the party, she asked me "Wouldn't you like some new friends for the holiday?" At first, I thought she was going to tell me that she had found some kittens and wanted me to take them. (I would have said NO!) But when she explained that she would like to bring along her friends who always share Thanksgiving dinner with her family, I breathed a sigh of relief and said Is that all? I thought you were going to talk me into another kitten! V said I'm probably the only person she knows who doesn't freak out at having a house filled with people. I told V that I had a lot of practice.... my grandmother's house was always filled-to-bursting at holiday time.

My husband has arranged for live music for the party... it's a steel-drum band that we had here a few years ago. They were so much fun, they really became part of the party and everyone loved them. So back they will come... it's going to be a great night.

One of our friends told me that she couldn't come to the party because her doctor has scheduled her for back surgery the day before party-day. There was no way for her to change it, because of the holiday and the doctor's schedule. She was so disappointed that I asked her if she and her mom would like to come here for tea at the end of the week. There won't be a band, but at least we'll get to see one another before she goes into the hospital, and she'll see the big tree, which she loves.

Our around-the-corner neighbor V is having a Christmas dinner next week for five or six couples, and we're invited. For dessert (unless V changes her mind) she's going to bake individual little Christmas-tree-shaped cakes, then put all kinds of icing and toppings on the table so everyone can decorate their own little tree and then eat it. When she asked me if I thought that was a good idea, I told that the women will love it, and the men might not enjoy something so kitchen-y artistic. V's answer: "Oh, they'll just have to get over that.... it's Christmas!"

V is just as Christmas-crazy as we are, except that she doesn't think she will be putting up a big tree this year. One of her sons is here from out of town, and will be staying with V and S for the month of December.... her son and his dog. V is afraid that the dog will either knock down the big tree, or damage her glass ornaments. V has been collecting Christopher Radko ornaments for years now, and she doesn't trust her son's big dog to leave the tree alone. V says she has "shopped sales long and hard to get those Radko's at half-price," and it would break her heart if the dog broke them. So... no tree. However, V has more than enough Christmas stuff to turn her house into a holiday heaven, even without the big tree.

With all the Christmas stuff that both V and I have collected over the years, we could open up our own consignment shop. Except that we wouldn't enjoy seeing our things go home with someone else. We could never have a 20%-off sale on anything--- we would probably pay everyone twenty percent not to buy our stuff!