I thought it was about time to get a blog post in. I've been busy lately, as usual. Whenever I go a long time between posts, I have a bunch of ideas and don't know which topic to write about first. When I first started writing this, it was Christmas Eve-now it's the 29th, and I still haven't finished it yet.
1. I went Christmas shopping for the first time on the 23rd, and must have made five stops-first in vain to find a copy of "It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD to show at work. I tried to get it at the library, and it was checked out, and this was three weeks ago. I tried to buy it at Newbury Comics, and they didn't have it either. I have it on VHS, but that doesn't help much if you don't have a working VCR! Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice when I changed it to a different Christmas movie.
2. I went to CVS, to pick up some blue lights for the miniature tinsel tree I bought last week. I know some people think silver trees are gaudy, and maybe they are. But I love them, always have. I like the white trees, too. Unfortunately, the tree is so small and fragile that the only light sets that don't weigh down the tree are a string of 20. Tonight I found a string that small at a different CVS, and connected the white and blue sets, and have the blue lights underneath the tree, it's real pretty! There's something about the lights that "make" the season for me. I've been dealing with Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving at work, but have once again neglected decorating my own house until the last minute. Better late than never!
3. I got out of work early on the 24th, so I took advantage of a chance to do some last minute shopping. I went to my old haunts, 7-11, Trader Joe's and the Needham Heights CVS, which has more stuff than the others around here. Needham was getting like a ghost town, even though it was only 5:30. Christmas Eve after 6:00 is one of the rare occasions all year when time is suspended, and everything stops, because it's a special occasion. Cool! In this day and age where commerce happens 24/7 (I used to hate that figure of speech, but it's grown on me) it's kind of a nice novelty to see the stores closed. True, it can be inconvenient, but it makes me appreciate how easy life is most of the time when the buses are running and the stores are open.
4. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the wrapping paper! There are so many beautiful patterns. I've always been one to carefully unwrap gifts to save the paper, which then collects dust because I never get around to using it for other craft projects. I'm glad I still have some of the best wrapping paper from gifts my grandmother gave me over the years.
5. I managed to make it through the holiday season without once hearing the worst Christmas song- Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is coming to Town". The all-Christmas music was on a different radio station this year, so I wasn't exposed to it much. I don't think Christmas got as much publicity or hype this year as it usually does.
6. Don't get the wrong idea, that I don't like Christmas music--I do! I just prefer the traditional songs, and the "pop" ones from the 50's and 60's. The Phil Spector Christmas album is really good, and Johnny Mathis is great too. Still, I like two songs about Christmas you never hear- Jethro Tull's "Christmas Song" and The Kink's "Father Christmas". Both songs are pretty cynical, but have a ring of truth to them that's hard to deny. I'll try to include them at the end here.
7. At the risk of being repetitious, I will say that I love Christmas, but I never seem to capture the spirit quite the way I want to. I always put things off, and never make my special cookies and fruitcake (I should call it my macadamia/pineapple bread, so people won't be afraid to eat it- fruitcake has a negative connotation to it.) People think of that yucky tub of green and red bits that get mixed into cake batter. Nasty, sour, and not too appetizing. For the life of me I can't remember what its called. I just went downstairs and looked at the container that my Mom bought at least five years ago. It's called candied fruit and peel mix- but I know they call it something else, I just can't think of it. My internet search didn't tell me anything.
8. I haven't done any after Christmas bargain hunting this year, it's probably too late now. I barely focused on gift giving this year, outside of doing so for the residents at work. I still have to get gifts for my parents.
9. What about the snow? We had a lot of snow the week before Christmas, but most of it melted when we had a wonderful warm spell-I'll take that over a white Christmas any day! I became tired of ice and snow pretty quickly. At least I sent away for one of those ice carpets that you can put over the icy walkway, to make it safe.
So, Christmas is over for another year, and I'm glad. But as I say every year, I'm going to start planning now to make the next one the best over!! I hope your holiday season was a happy one, and may you have a prosperous New Year! Please take a few minutes to listen to the songs, and tell me what you think.
 |
| Here are the trees at Needham Center, where I wait for the bus at night. They did a nice job on them. |
