Journal Pii's Journal: Post-Christmas Wrap Up... 3
Christmas was delightfully peaceful and tranquil at my house this year... It was just my immediate family (My Wife, two Kids, and Myself). A Christmas without the strain of visiting parents (or worse, in-laws) shouldn't be stressful, and mine fully lived up to it's low-key billing.
My wife actually utterred the words: "This is the most relaxing Christmas I can ever remember."
There was plenty of stuff to open... I got pretty much everything I put on the list I had prepared (I balked on the XM Radio for now, telling my wife to hold off on that... As much as I'm sure I'll enjoy it, for the most part, I just listen to Howard Stern and Don & Mike anyway... What am I going to do with 100 channels?).
I'd done most of my shopping for my wife while we were in Vegas earlier in the month. I got her a Dooney & Bourke purse that caught her eye, and a lovely Movado bracelet that she totally wasn't expecting. I should get a lot of milage out of that one.
The kids, typically, made out like bandits. In addition to all of the stuff we got for them (Which was, in my opinion, too much stuff to begin with), they got a bunch of additional loot from family and friends scattered around the country.
We're going to leave all of our decorations up for a while, probably through mid-January. One of the advantages of an artificial tree, I suppose, is that there's no rush to dispose of the tree before one of two things occurs:
- It drops all of it's sappy needles onto your carpet
- It catches fire and burns down your house
The wife was horrified last year when I told her that I wanted to get an artificial tree, but she's a true believer now.
We got a 7-foot pre-lighted tree. It comes out of the box, and you assemble the three sections, and viola, the hard work is behind you! You just have to hang the ornaments, and start drinking heavily skiped egg-nog, or Peppermint Shnaps Milkshakes. What could be better? You can put it up in early December, and take it down 6 weeks later, no watering. Try that with a real tree.
I was also fairly pleased with the lights I'd put outside this year... I covered all of our shrubs with white net lighting, and I lined our sidewalk and driveway with small staked lights with gold ornamented toppers. It was really easy to do, and it looked really nice (And classy... In my neighborhood, we vocally mock multi-colored lights, and goofy free standing caricatures.). The lighted walkway effect was enchanting, so much so that I'm going to install some permanent lighting this spring. I think I'll go with the solar light stakes, so that I don't have to mess with any electrical stuff.
At any rate, I hope you all had as nice a holiday as I did, and that your next credit card statement won't cause a cardiac arrest.
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Re:Not bad, this year. (Score:2)
Were I in your stead, I'd never leave home for Christmas, and I'd be willing to bet that the extended family would be calling ahead for reservations at your place for Christmas.
My definition of relaxing coincides with yours... As relaxed as it can be in the presence of children. :)
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