See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you—you of little faith? - Matthew 6:28-30
Wrapping Christmas presents on Sunday afternoon while being entertained by old episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter on DEFY TV, pulled in with a cheap indoor antenna attached to a tiny TV in the bedroom. I don't know how much of that is more than you wanted to know.
Not having decorated for Christmas for several years, I was determined to do so in our new home (new to us as of November 2021). So I asked Hub and a young friend he had hired to help do some outdoor work to pull the plastic storage boxes down from their shelf in the outside garage. In the past we'd stored these boxes in our attic, but last fall when we moved into this house Hub wanted to store them in the detached garage - that sits about 30 feet from our house. Now... when moving in we could see evidence of mice in that garage and to say I was not happy about storing anything out there that would ever come into the house is a huge understatement. In the end, though, we were too tired once the boxes had been placed there, and I was dealing with an injured knee from the move so I gave in and let the boxes stay out there. For over a year. And I tried not to think about it...
Even though everything was in plastic containers, I was nervous about bringing the boxes into the house, so I had the guys put them in our sunroom and I decided I'd go through them out there. To my great relief, there was not even the tiniest evidence of mice having gotten into any of it, so evidently those plastic boxes were sealed up really well.
Earlier this past week, still feeling puny from having been sick recently, I decided to take it slow and just stop when I was tired of it. I got a small tree put up (a tree that belonged to Hub's mother), and got it decorated.
While I've grown to love our home, we have a very strange configuration for our living room (it's two spaces in one and it's all in a squarish "L" shape. With the way we have our furniture, there just didn't seem to be any good place to put the tree. After talking about it, we decided to just put it in what amounts to basically almost, not really, but sort of the middle of the whole space, but behind the sofa, and we were really surprised at how nicely it works there.
One of the reasons it works well is because our front door is half decorative glass, so placing the tree in this spot allows the pretty lights to sparkle through the window of the front door. Some of the panes in the door windows are frosted, and all of the panes have beveled edges so the lights on this small tree are magnified in all the angles and edges of the windows. Also, because the tree is fairly small and narrow, it tucks in behind the couch perfectly and isn't in the way at all. And... to top it off, the tree can be seen from several other rooms - the dining room, the den, even our bedroom. Yes, indeed - I think we've found the perfect spot for a tree here.
And that has ended up being pretty much all the decorating I'm doing for Christmas. We have a nice fireplace and mantel and I'd love to decorate it, but it needs some kind of statement piece - like a large mirror, or some architectural piece, or even a really large wreath. If I figure this out, I'll take a picture, but at this rate, I'm thinking that may just have to wait another year 'till I have time and ability and the motivation for it. I don't want to spend my energies right now looking for something I may not find. I'd rather wait for it to show up - with minimal effort on my part. That tends to be how I roll anymore...
For now, I'll share pictures of some of the special ornaments on our tree. Most of them old - some from when our boys were young, some from when we were young marrieds, and a few from our childhoods. Some are hand made while others are factory made. They are all special for different reasons.
I was tickled when middle son was visiting this week and the first ornament he looked for was this bird in a nest (above) and he reminisced a bit how that was always a special ornament to get to place in the tree, or look for if someone else hid it in the branches.
And, finally, I want to share a YouTuber I just can't get enough of lately. The YouTube channel is called Celebrating Appalachia, and the presenter is Tipper Pressley.
This video inspired me to share her with you today, but her videos are so varied and interesting. She's a natural story teller with a soothing southern drawl and a heart to share what is special about Appalachia - particularly her corner of it in North Carolina. I encourage you to check her out.
