What I Don’t Do At Christmas, Any More

This year, I thought I would take stock of what I do and don’t do at Christmas, any more.  I find that I don’t do more than I do do.  Sometimes, this makes me sad.  Truth be told, so many of these things were things that Larry did for the holidays.

 For example, Larry had tons of outdoor lights. Some were hung from the roofline of the house.  Others blanketed the pfitzers.  Some, usually the old-fashioned colored strings were wound around the horizontal bars of the split-rail fence.  I remember a year when Larry thought there were neighborhood children taking the bulbs.  When he studied the situation more closely, he discovered that squirrels had chewed the wiring, taking colored bulbs with them.

Our house had no electric outlets on the front or sides of the house.  Larry had to run an orange extension cord from the light fixture at the outside kitchen door on the west side of the house to the front where he placed the lights.  To do that, he screwed a special light socket into the fixture at the back door so he could still have the outside light bulb, as well as the electric source for his extension cord.  To have the Christmas lights on, the light bulb outside of the door also had to be on.

In 2017, the outside Christmas lights stayed in their boxes.  I could never have climbed a ladder to put the lights on the roof’s edge.  It was about that time that I gave away all of the outside Christmas lights.  About two weeks ago, I received a text message from someone that said, “Years ago, you gave us some extra Christmas lights.  Every year, when we put them up around our property, we think about you and Larry.  Thanks.”   No signature, and I didn’t recognize the telephone number. 

 I puzzled about it for some time.  I knew that the photograph they included in the text message appeared to be from a country home.  Finally, sister Clara suggested that I just write back to them, asking who had sent the text message.  So, even though I hate this text messaging process, I followed her advice.  Indeed, the result was that the message had come from neighbors who had moved away about two years ago and now live in a rural area of our state.

 Along with not decorating the outside of my house, I don’t decorate the inside, either.  I do not put up a tree (although, I was tempted to get one of those trees I see advertised on TV that one can install with a simple one-step process).  So, no tree.  And I have hundreds (yes, hundreds) of ornaments.  Larry worked at a hardware store for years.  Each year, the owners had a Christmas party to which all of the employees were invited.  It was fun to dress up and attend these parties.  Also each year, the owners had an ornament created just for their store.  The employees received an ornament.  Larry’s collection included every ornament that was ever created for the employees.  I really miss a Christmas tree.

 I have many, many Star Trek ornaments thanks to Daughter #1.  Glass ornaments.  Icicles.  Red, green, gold, blue ball ornaments.  Ornaments that I made with styrafoam balls and pretty beads.  Tiny baskets and other ornaments from other countries.  In fact, many ornaments from other countries.  South America.  Mexico.  Many other countries.

 Now that my family no longer comes to my house for Christmas dinners, I do not cook the dinner for them.  It was always roasted turkey and all of the “fixin’s.”  Mashed potatoes, stuffing or dressing (you choose the name), giblet gravy, home-made dinner rolls with whipped honey butter, green bean casserole (always, green bean casserole), a five-cup salad, a green salad with home-made dressings, and a jello salad with marshmallows, and slices of oranges and apples.  Of course, there were desserts of pies and cakes and fruits. 

 I miss cooking Christmas dinner for my family.  I miss setting the table with fine china and cutlery and a beautiful table cloth.  I miss having floor-sized poinsettias.  I even miss the mess of papers torn from packages.  And the sack of ribbons to be used during the next year.  Does everyone keep the ribbons, I wonder?   I miss having the house clean,  at least once a year for a party.

 So, now, I go to someone else’s house.  Please don’t get me wrong.  I love the people I’m with.  I love the conversation and activities.  But I do miss the preparing and the “doing.”

 My prayer is that you have all had a wonderful and blessed holiday season, no matter what holiday you celebrate.

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.

 Just a note about this BLOG.  Without the capable assistance of my Grand #2, this BLOG would never have happened.  I have a new laptop computer.  I was not getting along with it at all well!  She came to my rescue and taught me stuff that I really didn’t know before.   And so, the BLOG exists!