Well, as predictable as my "panic about the holidays" post is... just as predictable is my "ok, it's better now" post. While I still find myself a bit susceptible to some wild mood swings, I believe that major combat holiday preparation operations are now over... so fly that "mission accomplished" banner!
The weekend was the biggies ... the outdoor holiday light display on Saturday and the tree on Sunday.
On our way to lunch on Saturday, we quickly agreed to scale back our outdoor display. A few years ago, I came up with this great idea and each year it seemed to escalate a bit more... and in the last year or two, it seemed like it was much more a chore to get it done... nearly a half a day of work... and frustrating at times, as anyone who has dealt with strings of lights can likely attest. The basics of the display are still there... but just less... and it was nice to not worry about blowing fuses or figuring out where to plug everything in.
Sunday was the tree... and since I built up my worry so much, it wasn't too bad opening up the ornament box. Again, we had a a lot of basset hound ornaments... and this is our first year without a basset... so I tried to emotionally buckle down. What I wasn't expecting was to see a couple of old Christmas cards with Toby on them. We have put out past Christmas cards as decor (including last year's with Rocky as an elf to Toby's Santa), so that was something I had forgot about being in the ornament box. There was the "Toby's First Christmas" ornament that I had made by hand, and put that one the side... as I could not honestly bear that one being on the tree... but each of us put up another basset hound ornament (with a bit of a gulp and sigh) on the tree in honor of Toby.
But no worries, it was not all gloom and doom with the tree. Every year, the first ornament on the tree is a new one... and usually that is some place from our travels. I always try to find a Christmas ornament, or something that could pass for an ornament, whenever we go on vacation. This year, it was an embarrassment in this respect. I did manage to get some real ornaments in Paris... and got some that passed as an ornament in Amsterdam and Beijing... but funny enough, I could not pass up getting most our new ornaments just a couple of miles away at our Cost Plus World Market. Here they are:
I think it's a pretty fun collection... and I am guessing there are not many "Sex Shop" ornaments (far left) adorning many trees this holiday season... haha! But c'mon, it's kinda cute! Besides the obvious... I took great liberties in considering that an ornament... and that little clip was a perfect way to put it on the tree (what could one possibly use a clip like that for in Amsterdam... hmmm!?!?!).
The real point of this picture were the tags on two of the ornaments. It's hard to see in this size (plus there's a lot going here - foreground and background - that it was hard to focus), but you can click on the pic to go to Flickr to see a large version of it.
Anyhow, the Eiffel Tower ornament... surprise,surprise... was Made In China....
But, funny enough, the China ornament was Made... wait for it... In Poland... and that is what totally cracked me up (I never said I wasn't easily amused!)
Otherwise, I think most of the shopping is done. As I mentioned last week, a lot of my gift-giving was done online and being directly shipped to my family... this week, I need to buckle down on the Christmas cards and hopefully get those out the door and mailed... along with some gifts... by early next week... and then just try and kick back and enjoy!
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