Seriously?

December 8, 2008  The first three or four years of Christmas decoration was a honeymoon--none of the Christmas Vacation-style disasters were part of the scene. But the honeymoon is over. Last year, I had a strand in the middle of the 10-foot tree burn out shortly after we finished decorating; we made several stops before finding a store with 300-light strands. Several hours later, the tree was finally glowing. Unfortunately, it did not last. In the same, hard-to-access middle of the tree, a section of the new strand did not let its little light shine... By that time, I had all the ornaments on there, so I decided to let it go until next year--which brings me back to 2008. I remembered that I was going to have to re-light part of the tree (I store the tree w/the lights still on it), but I was hoping that it had somehow fixed itself over the past 11 months in the basement. Alas, they were still dysfunctional. After responsibly doing my part to avoid excess environmental waste, I had only wasted an hour trying to replace each light and fuse in the unlit section. AND I had spilled/sat in my over-priced energy drink. Fortunately for Harper, he was out helping his brother move something, rather than being home to witness my mess. I decided that a glass of wine might serve my holiday spirit better than attempting another caffeine stimulant. When I was finally ready to add the new strand to the tree, I plugged it in, just to be safe; the photo above says it all. At that point, I toasted Clark Griswold and moved on to another strand.

December 11, 2008  Yes, it really did snow here yesterday! For many of my students, it was the first time they had ever seen snow, so it was pretty cool to see how excited they were. I know they were hoping for a day off to make snow angels and eat snow ice cream, but it just didn't last long enough. Maybe next time.

December 19, 2008  Harper's godmother, Melva, shared an Amazon Lily with me last winter--despite a superstition about only sharing them with kin. She also believes it's bad luck to thank someone for a shared plant, but I always accidentally thank her anyway. So far, I don't think I've killed any of the treasures she has bestowed, and I told her that if Harper didn't count as kin, I didn't know who would. Something must have worked, because it has finally bloomed this week. It looks like a Fuchsia crossed with a daffodil, but it's a perfect angelic white that is so pure, it almost looks artificial. I brought it in earlier this week before the last cold snap, and it has been dark and dreary here ever since. I finally grabbed the camera on my lunch break to capture just enough natural light with a slow shutter speed. I told Harper that it's my new signature flower--a white Amazon, just like me!

Cheers!