Christmas hit my house today! This is the earliest I have EVER had Christmas up and around at my house (parents' or otherwise). The lights are up. The tree is up (and mostly lit...I'll get there in a minute), the dishes are in the dishwasher, linens ready to be washed and all the little things are out. I was excited about getting home from Thanksgiving away and decorating the house. I love Christmas--the lights, the smells, the colors. But as I started pulling box after box out of storage, I thought on more than one occasion, "would it be so wrong if I just dropped this so it'd break so I don't have to repack it?!?" (I didn't partake in the temptation). I also began to think if I let the Christmas bug hit too early as I got overwhelmed at all the Christmas stuff there was to clean and put out. But, as things settled into place, I became more and more grateful for my mother's masterful shopping techniques...the woman can find a bargain, let me tell you, so I have lots of cool things that she bought super cheap. (Note to mom, I do not need any more, but thank you for what I already have!)
The only SNAFU was the Christmas must--the lights. I started, gleefully, to do the tree and spent time untangling and testing the lights, only to find that 2 of the colored minis don't work. (I still have yet to figure out WHY I repacked them last year if they didn't work...) and I searched and searched and only had one more strand, so, I have the top foot done and the bottom three feet done and a big foot and a half in the middle with no lights. =( I'll get there though, next stop Kmart for one more box of minis. After getting ridiculously frustrated with the tree lights, I moved onto the white lights that were for the porch and the sliding door. Those went up without much trouble, though one of those strands didn't work either. Fortunately, I know Murphy is hard at work when the Christmas lights come out, so I pretest before I hang, and I know to put the plugs the right direction. I can't tell you how much fun I had watching folks come into the hardware store (where I worked for 6 years) around Christmas time asking for a male to male or female to female electrical adapter. For the record, they don't make them. (At least they didn't 5 years ago, if they were smart they would now...) If you've ever done lights, you know the drill, you start hanging and either 1) you get all the way to the end and figure out you have the wrong end at the socket, or 2) you start from two directions and when you meet in the middle there's no way to connect. Do yourself a favor if you're doing lights this year, think about where your plus is and which end you're starting with before you start hanging.
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