In a message dated 12/26/2001 8:17:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< So, in the morning I plan to start first thing on removing and storing all the Christmas stuff. Does anyone want to work with me on that? Please say yes:) >> Sorry Mary, I am still putting my decorations up. Yes, you heard me correctly. Every year I vow that I am going to start right after Thanksgiving with the decorations so that we have the entire month of December to be getting in the "spirit" & enjoying them but this year was worse than usual. Usually I put the tree up about the week before Christmas & then spend 2 days getting the lights right & then am still putting the decorations on Christmas Eve. Well, this year I thought it would be different since DH took off the week before Christmas. He had a total of 12 days off in a row....well you guessed-it he did diddlysquat. Well, I guess I should take that back. He did put up the icicle lights & put lights on the bushes in front of the house after much prodding from me. He tried to make me do it saying that I would never be satisfied with the way he did it. I assured him that no matter how he did it they all look the same once they are lit up at night. I did the 3 trees in the center "island" & arranged the 4 reindeer. I went out in the pouring rain with my older DS & picked out a tree. I spent every waking moment for the 3 weeks in December prior to Christmas trying to declutter the living room & kitchen & not just stuff & hide things like I do every year. He did wrap some presents that were in nice squared boxes....no weird shapes for him. He did get the kids up & give them breakfast that week & drive them to school on the days that I didn't have to be at the school for some reason (field trip, parties, & resale shop). But when it came down to the final wire & it was obvious that I wasn't going to make-it he quit on me. He refused to help get the decorations out of the attic (luckily one box was still in the hallway that he had never put up from last year) or hang a single ornament on the tree. My older DS (11) helped me get the stuff down the ladder & put all of the unbreakable ornaments on the tree for me. DH did go to the grocery store a few times that week but only picked what he wanted or what was needed for that very meal we were preparing that day. He ran a lot of errands for himself without asking if I needed anything. If I made him take the cellphone with him he turned it off so I couldn't call him...just him call to "check-up" on me. Anyway, to get back to why I am just finishing decorating now. I managed to finish the tree & get the floor cleared & vacuumed in the living room. I even ran the wet swiffer on the hardwood floor which I hadn't done before & it did a nice job. I dusted & tried to clean up the kitchen the best I could while knowing that I only had a few hours for Santa to get there & do his "stuff" & be gone before the kids got up. My oldest is 11 & he is a diehard believer & he has told me he doesn't care what anyone says that he knows that Santa is real & even I can't change his mind (I have never tried). Well, 8:00 came & he & his 8 year old brother got up & I was still stuffing the rest of their gifts in Christmas bags. All of the designated gifts from Santa don't get wrapped so I just had to set them out. This year my kids were only allowed to ask him for 3 gifts a piece since that is all the wise men brought to baby Jesus. Luckily they were reasonable requests & Santa managed to get them all. There were more things from Mom & Dad though that had to be wrapped so there I was trying to remember what gift was for which person & stuffing a bunch in each bag. Everything Harry Potter related was in one bag, everything for the "moose" or "giraffe" collections were in their own bags, etc. DH managed to keep the kids in our bedroom while I worked like a madwoman. When you are up all night & and haven't eaten properly & are worried that you are going to "blow" the Santa illusion, and DH is getting more & more disgusted by the minute, and the large Snowmen collection & the angel collection are still all over the end table & the coffee table in piles & wrapping paper, tape, & decorations boxes are everywhere....well that would have been a good time for the rapture to occur & put me out of my misery. I have never been so stressed in all of my life. Usually I am watching Christmas movies & listening to carols & drinking hot cocoa while I am doing all of this things but I was on a nonstop 24 hour frenzy that almost didn't get the job done. I say almost because I did get everything done that really mattered for Christmas morning but the angels & snowmen sat right where they were until 2 days ago. I usually leave them up until I get out the "spring" stuff since they are not really Christmas but winter decorations so I was determined to finish the job. Well, they are where they belong & looking mighty happy if I do say so myself. I would have felt extremely guilty if they had spent 3 seasons in the attic just waiting until their turn to get out for me to turn around & put them away after only a week of freedom (and limited freedom it was since they were in a pile on the tables). Okay, I know I am weird but I love my snowmen & I always put certain ones next to each other. My youngest DS is a big snowman fan too & would not have forgiven me if I had put them away without displaying them for a t least a month. Okay, now for the tree. Since it was pouring rain when we picked out the tree I didn't pay my usual good attention to the trunk. It is a beautiful, full 7- 1/2' douglas fir but unfortunately the branches went all the way to the bottom. After cutting off the bottom 3 branches the trunk still wouldn't touch the bottom of the tree stand. DH put a few stones from the garden in the bottom & put the tree on top & said it would be fine....NOT!! The stand has little prongs that grip the bottom of the tree to keep it upright & stones shift...so you guessed it. The tree started leaning really far to one side. I came up with the idea of taking a small chunk of wood & hammering a nail through it & partially into the bottom of the trunk (thus making the trunk longer but leaving a little gap for water intake) & filling in the sides with "lots" of stones to insure no tobbling. Well, being a typical man (no offense JFC male members) since this was an idea of mine it obviously was a stupid one & wouldn't work so the tree sat for several days in the stand in the living room leaning while we could have been getting the decorating done. He had promised to help decorate the tree if it had been done in a timely fashion (not Christmas Eve) but since he waited until the evening of 12/23 to decide to try out my idea he got out of helping out. As predicted it worked fine...until one of my son's friends squeezed behind the tree to look at some presents & knocked it crooked again 2 nights ago. Again I came to the rescue. DH said that it couldn't fall since the stand was big & heavy but I was more worried about the glass ornaments that were beginning to fall off the one side. I took some string & knotted 6 strands together to make it very strong & using a pair of long kitchen tongs I fed it into the tree & around the trunk at about eye level. I tied it tightly to the tree & then nailed the other end on the other side of the top corner of the doorway molding into the dining room. It was up high so it cleared any heads that might be in the vicinity. DH pulled the tree up straight while I pulled the string tight so he acted like he was the one that fixed it. If it had leaned anymore the angel was going to have to use her wings to stay up there. Okay, now for Christmas Day. The boys were very happy with their gifts. I was happy with my gifts (even though DH bought the wrong perfume and wrong flavor mints-12 tins of cinnamon altoids when I wanted wintergreen-hope Cosco will exchange). I received 29 piggies altogether from my boys, my DH, my sisters & a few friends. I opened a box from a nice jewelry store that is nearby & was very surprised. DH hasn't bought me jewelry since my engagement ring eons ago. Well, I don't know why I was surprised-A piggie pin & earrings. I love my piggies so I was happy. My favorite pig was an old blown glass ornament from the 1940s that DH got from an antique store (most of my pigs were antiques from the '30s to the '50s). I arranged all of the pigs on a tray that has a wooden edge & end handles & put it on the coffee table so I could admire them without them being in danger of breaking...NOT!! The boys were rolling around on the couch after repeated warnings that they were going to break my pigs. I even held up the old glass one & pointed out to them how fragile it was. Well, you guessed it...I was downstairs on the computer & I heard a crash & then a bunch of yelling & accusing & denying & I just knew what had happened. I had a feeling when I opened the pig that his days were numbered...I guess I should have trusted my hunch & put him up out of reach. Well, now there is a big whole in his side & hiney. He is about the size of a large orange so if I put it in the curio near the back with other piggies surrounding him maybe it won't show. Of course the boys are blaming each other & offered gifts of their own for me to break in retaliation but I don't think that would exactly "fix" things. I have moved the tray to the top of the hermit crab aquarium & threatened bodily harm to anyone that goes near it. The boys feel bad & they know that I forgive them but I had just warned them about the very thing that happened & they just wouldn't listen. They are forbidden to share the couch at the same time until further notice. LOL Okay I have gotten away from Christmas Day a little (the break didn't occur until several days later). All of my extended family was going to hang out at their respective homes for a while & then bring their designated dishes of food over to my nieces house to eat and exchange gifts there. There wasn't a designated time for this but most of the food was in crockpots or cold dishes (cold cut platter & rolls, etc.) so straggler could eat when they wanted. Well, I was on the couch while we opened the gifts & we finished about 9:30 a.m. I figured that we would go to my nieces (1/2 hour away) at about 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. The next thing that I knew it was 1:00 & I was just waking up. I needed a shower, I had food to prepare, & I had everybody's gifts that needed stuffing in present bags still. I ran into the kitchen demanding to know why no one had waken me-DH seemed in no hurry. He had made the pasta salad for me...not very good but I thanked him & let it go at that. He had also made a plate of dried beef stuffed with cream cheese & horse radish so I decided to skip the dips that I was supposed to make. I grabbed everyone's presents & starting bagging them up. This was not an easy task since all of the nieces & nephews were getting similar gifts but different enough that I had to make sure I didn't get them mixed up & my boys had their presents including jillions of leggos all over the floor. I don't know what happened (time warp..or alien abduction) but by the time I was done & had everything packed & in boxes by the door& had showered & had the kids dressed & in presentable clothing it was after 4:30. DH had gone back to bed & was laying there flipping channels like he had all of the time in the world. Well, by the time we got to my niece's house everyone had left & gone to my sister's house. They had left food behind for us to eat & we exchanged gifts with my niece & her two daughters. There were a few of their friends there also but my DH was mad at me. He was mad that there wasn't a hot turkey or ham dinner & that what was there had been sitting out for a while. I couldn't argue about the choice of menu since he would love to host a big meal here cook everything himself but my clutter has kept us from entertaining for at least 4 years now. My mother that only lives 10 miles away hasn't been here in almost that long. If she drove maybe would have come over & given me a hand a long time ago but it is too far gone for her help now. It is up to me & I made a good dent in it in the last month but I am a long way from company. We then went to my sister's to exchange with the rest of the family. My nephew & his girlfriend were there from Lancaster & were waiting for us so they could go back. They had to get up early for work the next day. We stayed there for another hour or so when I said we had better leave since we had another stop to make. A man that works with my DH has an open house every Christmas & the boys & I really wanted to go...even for a few minutes. He has an addition built on the back of his house that is right out of the past. A huge stone fireplace on one wall & the entire ceiling is hung with antique baskets. Antiques are everywhere. I just love it & I had a gift for them & just wanted to stay for a minute. We pass their development on the way home but DH decided he didn't want to stop (retaliation)?. I know that he had to get up for work the next morning but it was only about 8:30 & he laid in bed flipping channels for quite a while when he did get home. This man is always picking me up unique pigs at yard sales & antique stores & he always gives my kids antique models as gifts. I am sure I received all the blame the next day at work when the man asked where we were. Anyway, after Christmas I just vegged out I played with the kids. I took them to see Monster's Inc. & we baked cookies & filled little "wagon wheel" pretzels with different flavored chocolate chips & baked them until the chips softened & then pressed nuts or M&M's, or toffee pieces on the top. Very tasty & pretty. DS had the first stages of a report due as soon as he went back to school yesterday so we worked on that. Anyone have any pictures of Mt. Vesuvius that you would like to share? Is Carmen still a member? Maybe she has actually seen it & taken pictures. So, Mary, I will not be undecorating with you. I will be enjoying my "winter" stuff until the season changes again. I will take the tree down at the end of the month unless the needles start dropping but not one has fallen so far. It is still taking about a liter of water a day. And hopefully my string will hold up & keep it upright. Around here you can still see lit up trees through the windows even into February. I was sure they were probably artificial but last year I was surprised to see trees out with the trash cans in February & March. We like to hang onto the Magic of Christmas around here!!! LOL I will be working with you (once I get off this computer) but I am doing laundry, sorting old clothes, making doctor appointments, chucking out papers & trying to clean out the family room so we can have a fire in our fireplace. We haven't had one in several years because of my clutter & I am determined to change that. Hope I haven't irritated any of you with all of my long ramblings. Please don't write back with comments on what a rotten, lazy, unsupportive husband I have. I have not been a very good example myself & I know what a good husband he can be when I have done my part. We have been married for 12 years and I have let him down as a housewife for most of them. I am trying to change that so I can win his support & trust back. I am not agreeing that it was right that he didn't help us with the decorations but there is nothing you could say that I haven't already thought & If the tables were turned & he didn't mow the lawn or bring home a paycheck I don't know how supportive I would have been of him. Anyway it is New Years Resolution time & I am determine to declutter the house, lose some weight, and have a normal family life without stress!!! Now that I have written all of that I am basically caught up with you guys & won't need to ramble so much in the future. Still need to meet with the lawyer to try to contest the ruling on my lawsuit. Still need to regulate my medication so I am more alert during the day. (hypersomnia- on Adderall & Provigil). Still need to go to bed before most people are getting up so I don't feel so tired even if I didn't have hypersomnia. Debbie in Delaware *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Journey from clutter List Website http://journeyfromclutter.com Members Only Page http://journeyfromclutter.com/MembersOnly/MembersArea.htm Unsubscribe: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word 'unsubscribe' in the 'Subject:' field to be removed from the main list. To Unsubscribe from the Digest version of the list send the unsubscribe message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
