The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one to you
"Merry Christmas Darling", written by Frank Pooler/Richard Carpenter
Are you still in the grip of the "Christmas rush"? Leading up to December 13, I was feeling that crush. #1 Son was due to arrive that evening, and I had a long list of to-dos: housecleaning, finishing the tree skirt, completing hand-made gifts, tying up loose ends on my various volunteer projects, decorating the house. Unexpectedly, I was called upon for an evening shift at the Sparrow's Nest; it became a win-win in that I was able to work on one of my hand-made gifts at the same time.
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| This runner was an early Christmas gift from my mother-in-law |
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| Preparing to cut the tree |
First up? Cutting and decorating our tree. As I reported in last year's post, we are blessed to have a wide variety of trees on our property. Spousal Unit and I had pre-selected two candidates, and #1 Son had the privilege to make the final choice. Isn't this spruce a beauty?
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| Heave-ho, boys! |
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| Tree nears the house |
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| Drip dry in the entry |
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| Tree in the stand, warming by the fire |
Anyway … imagine if you will, Spousal Unit near the top step of said ladder, armed with a marshmallow skewer.
"Glad Mom is capturing me as I fall to my death," he says. (Note: capturing, as in photography, not catching, as in falling.)
He stretches forward carefully and maneuvers the angel onto a branch that is pointing straight up to the ceiling.
"Glad you have life insurance," #1 Son says.
But is the angel straight? No, she leans, somewhat to the side and somewhat forward, as if preparing to fall to earth.
"That may be as good as it gets," #1 Son offers helpfully.
Spousal Unit withdraws the skewer and pokes with futility at the cotton.
"Yep, you might want to cut your losses," #1 Son says from the safety of the floor.
And so she remains, a bit tilted. But isn't that a suitable metaphor for the human condition? None of us are perfect. And what better time than Advent and Christmas to strive for improvement? "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Make straight the way of the Lord'" (John 1:23)
We have been debating about the size of the tree - taller than last year? I dug through my archives, and hereby present a side-by-side comparison for you. What do you think?
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| Left - 2018 tree Right - 2019 tree |
Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But ev'ryday's a holiday
When I'm near to you
Once the tree was complete, we turned our attention to other family traditions, such as board games, movie nights and baking cookies, often accompanied by Christmas music playing on our 52-year-old Magnavox stereo.
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| I won Trivial Pursuit - 1980's version (but I am REALLY bad at trivia) |
It may not have helped with locating a new needle, but the paperwork was fascinating in its own right. Mainly because there are not one but TWO receipts from Rike's Department store, dated four days apart. I asked my Mom if she remembered a story about two stereos, but she said Dad handled all the purchasing at that time. The receipts show two different model numbers, and the one with the later date was slightly more expensive - $414.44. To put that in perspective, the median household income in 1967 as $7,143 and an average house would set you back $24,600! Stated another way, $414 in 1967 money would be worth $3,000 today. Wow! Here is Marshmallow World by Johnny Mathis, a vintage song spun on that very stereo.
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My friend wrote the following: This card reminded me of your
beautiful new Christmas tree skirt. Awww!
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The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it ev'ry day
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
I am content. The cat is on my lap, and a Frasier Fir candle is casting its pine scent into the air. I sip a holiday highball, and my thoughts turn to our daughter, who will arrive Monday morning. Our family foursome will be complete. What could be more fulfilling than that?
I wish you Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, too
Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.
