Ladybug Studio

The Twelve Pains of Christmas

I'll be flying to North Carolina in just a couple of hours. Ann and I will spend a couple of days together, then we will drive back to Florida on Saturday. The trip is similar to the one I made last year, but we added an extra day for fun. Tomorrow we will visit Old Salem and do whatever sounds good. Then on Friday we'll decorate cookies (that's fun!), run errands, pack and other stuff. Saturday is the dreaded long drive. Last year it was pretty insane. Lots of traffic, rubber neckers gagging up the works. We are hoping (fingers crossed) that it might be a touch better since Christmas is an extra day away from the weekend. Though I'm not counting on it.

I'm only working a half day, so I will have a couple of hours to pack and get myself organized. It shouldn't take very long, as I will only need clothes and things for a couple of days. A number of items can be borrowed from Ann - shampoo, conditioner, hair dryer - so that will save some room in the suitcase. My problem is figuring out which clothes to bring. I'm terribly wishy-washy when it comes to choosing clothes for a trip.

Even though it's only a total of three days, I will miss Tom while I'm away. We spend a lot of time together, whether we're actually doing something interesting or just sitting on the couch (Tom watches TV while I read). It always feels odd when he's not around.

* * * * *

I'm not implying anything with the song choice for today. I just think it's an incredibly funny tune and it amuses me every time I hear it.

The Nutcracker

If you don't read Crazy Aunt Purl, then you are doing yourself an injustice. Go read her entry from yesterday. It's okay - I'll wait.

Isn't she hilarious? Definitely one of my favorite reads.

We're having a cold snap. Compared to what's going on in some parts of the country (hello Denise!), it's rather mild, but we Floridians aren't used to the lower temps, especially as we've just experienced a bout of unseasonably warm weather. I guess it was in the 50s yesterday, but factor in the wind and it felt much colder. I so did not want to go to my tennis lesson yesterday afternoon. I'd been up late the night before (finally found my Christmas groove) and the idea of a warm cozy nap was taunting me. But, I went. And you know? It turned out to be a really great lesson. Another private lesson (the others wimped out), but this one went so much better than the last one. I was hitting better and managed to implement most of Coach Tom's instructions. After we hit and hit and hit some more, we worked on serves. I learned another little skill which greatly improved my serve, so that was exciting. I hope I have time to work on it over the holidays, otherwise we will be having that same lesson again in January.

The weekend was a busy one, but I am 99% done with all things Christmas. Except Christmas dinner, but that doesn't really count. I finished up my shopping and nearly all of my wrapping. I am still waiting for one gift to arrive for Tom and I have three (of the same) odd shaped items to wrap. Oops, make that four. There's a toy for Elijah that came in a tricky shaped box. I haven't quite figured out what to do with those yet. I'm leaning toward gift bags.

We've given up on decorating the outside of the house. At this point, what's the point? We have a wreath on the front door, so that's festive. And I suggested (or Tom suggested) putting one red and one green bulb in the carriage lights on either side of the garage. That will have to do for this year.

* * * * *

I realize that The Nutcracker isn't a song, but I love the entire piece and would have a hard time choosing a favorite movement. Though, if pressed, I might concede that I like the Spanish Dance (Le Chocolat) because I love the trumpet solo in the beginning.

The First Noel

The only thing I have to write about lately is Christmas doings. Otherwise, there just isn't much going on. Both tennis leagues are on break until the middle of January, so there's no news there. I still have my lesson on Mondays and try to play on Saturday mornings. I am planning to play tomorrow, in fact, but the idea of getting up at 6:00 am is not encouraging in the least.

Around noon on Saturday there is a birthday party for Akiva at Alex and Jeanene's place. He is one year old today! I still need to get a gift and a card. After the party, I will have a couple of hours to fill before Tom and I celebrate Christmas with his family. I will probably fill that time wrapping gifts. Which will immediately be unwrapped. The paper will still be warm.

We are celebrating a bit early for my benefit, so I can't really complain about the two holiday parties we will be missing. Gram flies out to California next Sunday (yes, you read that right - not on Christmas day for once) and next Saturday I will be driving from North Carolina to Florida with Ann, so neither day next weekend would work out.

I don't have any major plans for Sunday. Yet. Something could always come up. But at this time, I figure it will be a good time for more gift wrapping, visiting Dad and maybe even some baking. I never seem to have time for holiday baking and that's a big disappointment every year. I'm not even good at baking, but I always want to anyway. So, maybe…

* * * * *

Today's song is my favorite Christmas carol. I've been wondering about the distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a carol as a "religious song… associated with Christmas." I really enjoy this carol as sung by Vanessa Williams on her Star Bright CD. You may also run across this spelling: The First Nowell.

For those who also enjoy Christmas music and carols, try this quiz and test your knowledge. I missed five, but I swear one is a trick question.

Chris - I'll try to take a photo of our tree this weekend and post it on Monday.

Mister Santa

Our Christmas tree is all decorated! I don't know why I was dreading the chore so much. It didn't take very long, really, and it looks so pretty now. Tom helped a great deal by opening up all the Keepsake ornaments. And he even got all of the little boxes back into the large plastic box. That's a puzzle that I don't look forward to each year.

Maybe I mentally make Christmas decorating into a much bigger deal than it actually is. Because this year has been amazingly easy. Which surprises me, with everything that's going on in my life right now. Though I do think organization has been key. So far I've been fairly methodical with the process, breaking down everything into sections and tackling each project before introducing the next.

What's left? Let's see… I have a handful of gifts to buy and a number of things to wrap. I've let the freelance work fade into the background, so I need to  bring that to the forefront and get it taken care of. But things are looking pretty good right now, overall. It's a Christmas miracle!

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Today's holiday music pick: Mister Santa, by Amy Grant. Sung to the tune of Mr. Sandman, it's just so cute and fun. "Mister Santa, Bring me some toys, Bring merry Christmas, To all girls and boys…"

The Twisted Chipmunk Song

Operation Trim the Tree failed. Well, to be fair, the plan itself didn't fail, I just didn't make a solid attempt to implement it. There were more pressing Christmas matters at hand that took precedence.

There were gifts that needed to be wrapped and boxed up for shipping. So I started with that, trying not to get overly involved in fancy bow tying and ribbon curling. On that point, I succeeded smashingly. I skipped the extra special attention to save time, but I also convinced myself the bows would be ruined during the shipping process. Hopefully the gifts won't be…

I did venture up into the attic to retrieve my boxes of ornaments. The tree itself and all related items are stowed in the part of the attic over the east side of the house. I hate going up into that part of the attic because so much of the blown insulation likes to fall down into the house. What a pain. Anyway, I got what I needed, cleaned up the mess, and started arranging my "work area" around the Christmas tree. I moved tables and stools and cleaned off the bar area of the counter.

At this point, it was time to fix supper. I didn't make anything time consuming, just Shake 'N Bake BBQ chicken and Steamfresh corn. We ate, then cleaned up the kitchen. Suddenly it occurred to me that I was extremely sleepy. In the past, I would have pushed through to a second wind and I would have been up until the wee hours of the morning. But I just can't do that any longer. Not to mention that I really, really don't want to get sick this year and getting adequate rest is essential.

So I gave myself a break and hit the bed early.

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The Twisted Chipmunk Song, by Bob Rivers, is hilarious. The chipmunks, renamed Squeaky, Thagadore and Melvin, sound so much like the original singers. But with attitude.

Sleigh Ride

I recently filled out a Christmas questionnaire in which I was asked to name my favorite Christmas song. I couldn't possibly have one favorite, because I like so many of them. But there are certain ones that I really enjoy listening to more than others. So instead of trying to come up with a clever title for every post, I thought I would use the name of a favorite Christmas song for the rest of December.

I love Sleigh Ride because it's such an energetic and happy song. With or without words, either way I love it. The horse neigh at the end always makes me smile. It's actually pretty easy to play. I learned to do it on the trumpet many years ago. I can play it on my french horn too, but it doesn't sound quite right.

Tom put our Christmas tree together last night. It took both of us to get the large, heavy boxes out of the attic. I'm not sure exactly how long it took him. The current tree is fairly easy to assemble, but it takes a lot of time to fluff the branches. Now comes my job: hanging the ornaments.

I'm going to approach the operation with a precision plan. Otherwise, it will take days. The most important thing is to keep moving. Once I start dawdling around, looking for the perfectly perfect spot for each item, all is lost. I'm going to unbox everything (Tom can help with that) and just start hanging, one after another after another, until it's all done.

Wish me luck…

(a more appropriate song for this entry would be 'O Christmas Tree', but it's not much of a favorite.)

Holly Jolly Christmas

Regarding comments…
Thanks Chris! I'm enjoying the new look myself, and I really like the light blue and red combo.

Jenn, I'm so glad you keep bringing up the "I can't run on Valentines Day because it's a holiday!" joke. Cracks me up every time. And now that I'm lazier and not so gung-ho, I think your theory has merit.

Denise, I sure wish you were here to help me decorate my tree. I loved when you helped me when you were down here a couple of years ago.

* * * * *

The vacation day was well spent. First I cleaned the spare bedroom, because it will soon become the Christmas Wrapping Room. (I'll clean it again before Ann comes to stay) Next I vacuumed and dusted the living and dining rooms, removing all knick-knacks and lining them up on the kitchen counter, ready for temporary displacement. After many, many trips up and down the attic ladder, I brought down a gazillion boxes of decorations and lined them up in the garage. I took one box at a time into the house, placed its merry contents in an appropriate spot, then took the empty box back into the garage. Occasionally I would stop in the kitchen and add some everyday stuff to the box on the way to the garage. Thus, the process stayed amazingly organized and it never looked like a holiday massacre had occurred in the house.

There is definitely something to be said for being extremely anal. Even Tom was impressed when he tentatively stepped into the house, fully expecting to see the usual explosion of stuff generally involved in anything called "cleaning", "decorating" or "organizing."

Sticking to a schedule, I didn't allow myself to get too melancholy or sentimental about who gave me this Santa music box or where I bought that snowman cookie jar. The process is so much easier now that I have designated areas for specific icons. The dining room is Snowman Land and other than one small Rudolph, only snowmen are allowed. They're even grouped into similar collections. In one corner is the country snowmen and in another is the plush snowmen. On top of the curio cabinet is the ceramic snowmen. It might sound a little bit strict and military, but actually it's the cutest thing!

All of the Santa items are on the entertainment center, but that's also a snowman overflow area. I have developed quite a fondness for snowmen over the past few years and they're taking over. I bought a number of fun snowman items last year (after Christmas @ 50% off), including two cookie jars. I had planned to put my foot down about buying any more, but then I saw the cutest cookie jar at Dillard's this weekend… maybe he will still be there after Christmas…

On Saturday afternoon, Tom and I went to Melbourne to do some Christmas shopping. Thanks be to whoever created the Gift Card. It's really the perfect gift for teens and other difficult to shop for people. I'm sad to admit that I don't really have much imagination when it comes to choosing gifts. Even for those that I'm very close to. I just don't see an item and think, "This will be perfect!"

We checked a number of presents off of our To Buy list, but there are still plenty left. Every year I think I have it all planned out and then find myself searching for something on Christmas Eve.

On Sunday I did something that I haven't done in ages - I went roller blading! Tom and I met Alex, Jeanene and Akiva at Cocoa Village. The men rode their bicycles while Jeanene and I bladed. Akiva was in his stroller and Jeanene pushed him as we rolled along. My muscles immediately started a protest. Some were not used to being activated and others were still smarting from tennis on Saturday morning. But as we skated, they began to warm up (or give up). We ended up having a very nice time.

After Tom and I got home (after an extended 2 hour lunch in which our order was lost at Chili's) (the manager comped our lunch so all was good) I went to visit my dad and give Glenna a break. She left to run some errands and was gone for so long, I was beginning to get worried. What if she doesn't come back? But she did return (whew). We chatted for a bit, then I helped her get Dad settled for bedtime. Then we chatted some more. I really just wanted to go home, but I figure she doesn't get a lot of conversation during the day, since Dad doesn't say much lately. So I sat and talked. And ended up being there for four hours. That's a sizable chunk of time during this busiest time of the year!

Deck the Halls

I'm home today. I took a vacation day so that I can get started on Christmas decorating. Generally I would have started earlier. Putting up my decorations takes so much time, I want them to be up for more than a week or two. And perhaps I have too many decorations… (Tom would say so), but that's another story.

It's a shame the shuttle launch was scrubbed yesterday. Liftoff was scheduled for 4:31 in the afternoon. Those of us who work until 4:00 were allowed to flex one half hour, in order to prevent getting stuck in traffic. Our company doesn't usually allow flex time, which is stupid, so this was a bit of a big deal. At any rate, it was nice to leave at 3:30.

I took advantage of getting home a little earlier to lounge around watching a recorded episode of Pushing Daisies before grudgingly settling down to freelance work. Strange thing about the TV in the office - I was able to turn it on and control the volume, but I couldn't change the channels. Not with the Tivo remote, the TV remote or even the buttons on the TV itself. Tom, my technical expert, wasn't home from work yet so there was nothing to be done about it. The DVD player worked though, so I put in the first disc of Dexter season one and watched that instead. I had only seen the first two episodes, but the series is really interesting. It's about a good serial killer, if you can imagine such a thing. I ended up staying up until 11:30, to finish watching the first disc. Very good. I highly recommend Dexter.

Oh, when Tom came home, he picked up the remote and everything was working perfectly.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

After the comments, both written and verbal, about the amount of time I spent cleaning my car, I have to admit that I missed something. I didn't clean the inside of the windshield. And I'm not at all enthusiastic about having to do it now. Only a contortionist can really do that chore well. I'm just sure I'm going to end up pulling something or hurting myself in some way.

Oh - I did a little holiday makeover to the site. If you are still seeing the usual lime green theme, refresh your browser for a cooler palette of colors. Once I figured out how to make the changes, it was actually easy so I may mix things up on a regular basis. But then again, I'm fairly lazy, so maybe not.

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Yesterday I did something that I would have never in my life guessed I would do. I helped Glenna change my father's diaper. Yes folks, it has come to that.

Instead of having a pedicure yesterday, I canceled my appointment and went over to Dad's house. Glenna needed to run a couple of errands and I wanted (read: felt obligated) to visit and see how everything was going. Right after I got there, a Hospice nurse arrived to check on things as well. Dad had developed a slight cough right before leaving the rehab center and it has gotten worse. The nurse thinks he has a cold. In addition to the cough he also had a very slight fever. He was given a breathing treatment and a prescription for an antibiotic was called in for him.

While Glenna was gone, I tried sitting with Dad for a bit. He was watching Charmed - which is an odd choice for him, I think. But Law and Order comes on afterward so maybe it was easier to just stick with one channel. The TV volume was set on stun, as usual. But even that wasn't enough to drown out his pitiful coughing. I don't think he got even a 20 second break before having to cough again. Since he wasn't paying me any mind and there was nothing I could do for him, I exited the room and looked for something to keep me occupied.

I decided to clean out a couple of drawers in the kitchen. These drawers gave the term "junk drawer" a whole new meaning. One was stuffed to the gills with coupons, twist ties and little cellophane wrapped packages of plastic utensils. There was never going to be a utensil crisis in that house. There were a few interesting bits, a few old letters and some photographs. But most of it was trash and I filled three plastic grocery bags full.

About the diaper, even though I've tried to wipe that memory from my mind, I want to explain, in case someone doesn't know… Dad had a colostomy a year and a half ago. So we're only dealing with urine. Thank God, because I don't think I could handle it otherwise.

And I am surprised about the diaper. I really expected Dad to at least want to have a portable urinal brought to him, but he seems perfectly fine wearing a diaper. That disturbs me, but I don't want to think too much about it because I'm pretty sure I'll break down crying.

Home Sweet Home

It's been over a week since I wrote and a lot has happened. Mainly, Dad is home now and so far it's going fine. Joy and I had expected that he would spend most of the day in his easy chair, watching TV. But he seems to prefer laying in the hospital bed. I have mixed feelings about that. All he did was change one hospital bed for another. But I'm sure he's still happier and more comfortable at home. Glenna reports that he's been eating pretty well, so that's good. There are a few other concerns, but we're working through them.

The weekend was a very productive one, if the amount of work and sweat is any indication. On Saturday, after playing tennis for three hours, I spent some time at my dad's house, moving furniture. Some smaller pieces went out into his wood working shop. The sofa bed (which I did not move) ended up in the living room, right in front of the current sofa. That's the best solution at this time, so I'm not going to worry about it.

On Sunday I spent - wait for it - FOUR hours cleaning my car inside and out. That's a crazy amount of time for a little two-seater. But I did a super duper job of detailing the inside. I even vacuumed the trunk and rubbed leather conditioner into the seats. I did a fabulous job on the outside too. Of course, I had my audio book to keep me company (It Had To Be You, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips). When I was finally done with the car I moved on to yard work. I spent about an hour and a half trimming bushes, pretty much until I couldn't stand to lean over any longer.

So the yard looks good and the car looks fantastic. I like chores where I can see a big difference when I'm all finished. I can appreciate the satisfaction of a job well done.