Tag Archives: christmas
Last Christmas
Last Christmas, I spent a few days in the presence of greatness. I got to spend a weekend with Stacy. She is a dear and treasured friend, for a double-digit quantity of years that I’m not sure I’m permitted to share here. I saw some of the sights where she lives and dined deliciously on her luscious baking and cooking skills. We cuddled with her dog, and she let me camp out with True Blood (not exactly Christmas themed). She also took me to this magical garden center with row upon row upon row of poinsettia and a few other pretty plants.
This year, I haven’t made it to see her. I can’t let that happen again next year. Knowing her is a Christmas gift that I’ve been blessed with for a very long time, and I need to treat her like the amazing gift that she is in my life. There are many friends in this world, and I need to treat them all like the priceless gems that they are.
Stacy,
Sending you love, memories, and respect for all you are yesterday, today, and tomorrow. When I count my blessings, I count you.
Your Friend, Kim
Candy Cane Lane
As a child, we would often drive around the park on the way home from church sometime around Christmas. We usually didn’t get out to walk among it.
As an adult, I have stopped plenty to walk through Candy Cane Lane, admire the Nativity, and wander among the reindeer scattered about. It never gets old. But it does get cold.
Moral of the Story: Just because you didn’t as a child, doesn’t mean you can’t as an adult.
Christmas Trial and Error
I saw this somewhere or other and thought I’d try it for Christmas Dinner 2011. It is two black olives for the body, a small ball of mozzarella cheese for the belly (split the belly and stuff the mozzarella ball inside), and carrot for the nose and feet (kinda gross if you think about the nose which was cut out from the feet).
It was a great trial, but it was also merely a cute decoration. The error in this trial? Most of my family will not eat a black olive even if it would save them from starvation on a desert island.
Moral of the Story: Cross check your ingredients against the food preferences of your family and friends. Unless you want to finish them off yourself over the next week. Which could be fun too.
Christmas Card Lane
Kalamazoo, Michigan has a special treat during the Christmas season. It is a single street where many of the homeowners put out a Christmas Card for all to drive by and see.
Our one and only drive, if we even took one down this lane at the holidays, was on Christmas Eve. My parents and I would go to the Christmas Eve service at church. The service would end singing “Silent Night” by candlelight.
On the wintery drive home, we’d take time to drive down Christmas Card lane.
It is a delight to journey this road at night, Christmas Carols playing on the radio, with friends and family in the car to enjoy the sights.
I wouldn’t trade these memories for anything.
Oh, Christmas TreeS
“Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree, how beautiful your branches.” Well, once we settled on one . Our lovely slim Christmas tree purchased at Hobby Lobby in 2006 with pre-lit lights was no longer so lit. Mom and I went shopping for a new one. What an adventure!
We had three requirements. The first is that it needed to be unlit. No attached lights. Mom worries about the fire hazard of attached lights. The second requirement was that it had to be “hinged”. This means that it is in sections with all of the branches attached within each section. No tree with individual branches requiring attachment were allowed by me … ever again! Finally, the third criteria was for a slim tree. Nothing that would take over the living room and move us out.
So, how many trees are available that met this requirement? Let’s find out together.
Our first stop was Menard’s. After much searching, talking to two sales people, and reading every boxed tree in the joint, we found one. The sales people were so sweet and kind on our search and answering all of our questions. They had about 20 pre-lit trees and 15 unlit trees. Only two of the unlit trees were hinged. Only one of those was slim. Oh, but we bought the other one. Yes, after all of that research, we purchased the large-bottomed tree.
Not realizing this at the time, we took it home. Upon opening the box, it burst out. That was our first clue. The second clue was that it was tied tighter than a turduckin ready for the oven. Thirdly, the bottom section (in this case “A”) was more than 1/2 the weight of the entire box. Finally, When we dared cut the strings, it pushed us both back nearly out of the room. Hmmm…. to get it back in and return it.
After another hour, we had the beast back in the box (or so we like to say it was closed) and loaded in the car ready for the return. I was headed out of town to visit a friend, so mom would need to ask for assistance at Menard’s when the tree went back.
While I was away, mom toured Meijer, Target, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s. How many trees did she find that met our requirements? None! That’s correct. Not one single tree at six stores.
When I arrive home within the next few days, we head back to Menard’s. Uh-oh! The only tree that worked for us was sold out. Fortunately, there is a Menard’s on the south side of town. They were kind enough to hold it for us.
Phew! We got a tree!
She’s a beauty and we can use any color of lights we desire. This year we went with multi-colored for mom. I did sneak in my favorite angel topper (we only have four options).
Morale of the Story: Sometimes you can set your sights too high, but a thorough search might bring that goal to fruition.
Humor Happens 