It is early Sunday morning, a week before Christmas, and I
am sitting in the kitchen anxiously awaiting the ‘wintery mix’ I have been
promised by our Doppler Radar Weather People.
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| this was taken at the beginning of writing this post |
For those of you unfamiliar with weather patterns here on
the Coast of Illinois – ‘wintery mix’ is not a delicious chocolate blend but
more of a disastrous coating of freezing rain, covered by about 4 hours of beautiful snow which is then
topped with a final coating of sleet. This can occur in no particular order but
is ALWAYS topped with that freezing icing of…ice.
It is a Parfait of Precipitation.
Which nearly always occurs on Sunday afternoon leading into
Sunday night and concluding on Monday morning about 7 minutes before rush hour.
The threat of this sends ordinarily sane humans into
frenzied French toast chefs, leaving grocery stores ransacked of all bread,
eggs and milk. Which seems like a ridiculous supply list.
Personally, I opt for popcorn, soda, a nice bottle of
cabernet and bologna.
The fact that this particular storm threatens to hit on the
next to last weekend before Christmas is just a cruel reminder by Mother Nature
that the most important part of the holidays is not the perfect gift but being trapped
in the house by six feet of ice…with loved ones ….
However, around here, the most important part of the holiday
this year is the addition of Chrome Boy – better known around the Christmas
Tree lot as That Tacky Silver Tinsel Tree with Color Wheel which graced many
homes back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
Every year Rob tells me about their tinsel tree with color
wheel. And every year I cringe and give him my best Charlie Brown ‘Good Grief!’.
But thanks to the artificial intelligence of on-line
shopping and the miracle of instant delivery, I managed to find both a small
tinsel tree and color wheel for less than the typical ‘retro-vintage’ price.
It was delivered secretly to my parents’ home where I picked
it up after work late one night, then hastily put it together before going back
to work in order to surprise Rob.
He was
appropriately surprised and excited and now ‘Chrome Boy’ lives in the Tiki
basement, decorated with random left over ‘vintage’ style ornaments and topped
with Santa Pirate.
Which, in a nutshell, is our decorating style.
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| Ho Ho Ho! |
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And why I love seeing other people’s holiday pictures. In
our little circle we have the traditional decorators, the elegant decorators
and then there’s us, the eclectics.
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| our more traditional tree |
Each is beautiful in its own way and works
so well for each individual. There is no way to compare.
Yet, with all the hype of the holiday season, the Hallmark
vignettes, the Pinterest suggestions, the emotional blackmail, it’s easy to
fall into a psyched out, frenzy of overblown perfection driven crazy.
I have been there.
Every year I visit the land of Holiday Hysteria at some
point.
This year it was the day the nose piece broke off my glasses
forcing me to work two shifts with crooked bifocals, giving myself a migraine
with accompanying nausea and culminating in a day spent walking around the
house in my Jackie O prescription sunglasses while waiting for the repair place
to call with my newly reattached nose piece. Thanks to the vision disorientation
and dizziness I couldn’t do anything but sit on the couch and enjoy the
ornaments sitting at the perfect diopter distance away from my stigmatic
eyeballs.
This just happened to be the goofy shepherd ornament we made
with the kids for Sunday School. I can’t even remember how I managed to sew up
24 of those little bodies to be stuffed and dressed by 24 tiny pairs of hands.
They are silly and sweet, and both of our kids love them. And although they
weren’t able to help decorate the tree this year, I made sure their favorites still
made the cut.
Especially these little shepherds.
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| pretty sure all shepherds smile like this |
And as I sat, trying to focus on just one thing, I remembered
the delight in our daughter’s voice when she found the shepherds this year. And
the laughter as the kids talked about holidays past.
And those immortal words
of Dr. Seuss came to me, as they do every year:
“It came without
ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags! Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store…Maybe
Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more…!”
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Whether your holiday is shiny and bright, or quiet and
still, may you be surrounded by the people who make your heart swell!
Happy Happy Holidays from the
Coast of Illinois
And ps – We have FLAKES!! The first layer of Wintery Mix is
beginning!
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| note the lovely, sparkly ice crystals |
