too early or go for it

I want to put up one Christmas tree this weekend! Do you think it is too early? I put it to vote on a Facebook Status Update and the majority of my friends say yes, it is too early!

I just looked at older posts and on October 18 I posted that I was in the holiday spirit. That was three weeks ago!

Traditionally we put our trees up on Thanksgiving, give or take a day. Last year neither of us was in the mood so we didn’t put our trees up until December 8th. Then we turned around and took them down on Christmas Day!

I am seriously considering starting to decorate this weekend! That would mean our trees would be up seven weeks. That’s not all that long is it?

The reason I want to start decorating is because there is a chance I am going to be laid up for awhile. Next Thursday I meet with my foot doctor again and I think there is a possibility that he will recommend surgery this time. During the last visit he said he was researching options and mentioned the possibility of putting a screw in the bone.

In the event I have surgery I will most likely be off my feet for an extended period of time. From what I understand I would be in a cast and would have to use a walker for a month or so.

Now do you see why I want to fill our home with Christmas spirit? ‘If’ I end up having surgery, it sure would be nice to be able to sit and enjoy a Christmas tree while I am laid up.

Right now the plan is to put up four trees, the Hallmark ornament tree in the living room, the dog tree on our kitchen table, the basketball tree in the Bulls room, a.k.a our exercise room and the sentimental ornament tree in our family room.

The Hallmark tree takes the longest to decorate and to take down because every ornament is individually boxed. My Mom started my Hallmark ornament collection in the 1970’s and Leigh and I have been collecting them for 20 years!

The dog tree has nothing on it but dog ornaments. I was a dog owner for 21 years. Every year I bought a photo frame Hallmark dog ornament. The ornaments chronicled the growth and aging of my beloved boys. The tree has a few cat ornaments too. The dog tree is and always will be my favorite of all the trees. In fact the Christmas my husband was in the war it is the only tree I put up.

The basketball tree is my ‘fun’ tree. It will be covered in Chicago Bulls and other basketball themed ornaments.

And finally our sentimental ornament tree which is our tallest and biggest tree. We put it in our family room in the basement. For the last three years we put bright colored plastic ornaments on it. This year we will add sentimental ornament to the mix.

The funny thing about Christmas trees is that is it always fun to put the trees up at the start of the season and it is a pain in the rear to take them down when the holidays are over.

What to do? Leaning towards putting at least one tree up this weekend! Stay tuned. I will post pictures if I go through with the ‘early up Christmas tree plan’.

rest in peace aunt mary

Today is a very sad day for our family. My Mom called me early this morning with the sad news that my Aunt Mary passed away sometime yesterday evening.

I have wonderful and fond memories of Aunt Mary. My recollection is of a woman who loved her husband, children and life! Every once in awhile you encounter a person who loves to smile. Someone, who the only way you can visualize them is with a smile on their face. That is how I remember Aunt Mary. She loved to laugh, joke around, chuckle and smile.

There were five kids in my Dad's family. With Aunt Mary's passing three of them are together again. Another family member from that generation has slipped away from us.

Prayers and thoughts go out to my Uncle Duane and my cousins Steve, Kent, Craig and Amy. I know how heavy your heart is! Even though my Dad has been gone over nine years, the memories of his passing are as fresh as if it were yesterday.

Rest in Peace Aunt Mary! Please tell my Dad hello, give him a big hug for me and tell him I love him and miss him!

aunt mary in failing health

My Mom called last night with the news that my Dad's middle sister, Mary, is in the hospital in California and is not doing very well. In fact she was not expected to live through the night.

When I was a kid we spent every Christmas with my Dad's side of the family, so we were close to my Aunt Mary. Over the years they moved to California and we didn't see each other in person, but we kept in touch.

My heart aches for my Uncle Duane and my cousins. Even though my Dad passed away over nine years ago, the void is still there. So I can say I understand what they are going through.

Thoughts and prayers go out to my Aunt Mary, Uncle Duane and all of their kids, my cousins.

You know the saying, "No news is good news?" I have a feeling that will be the case today. When my Mom calls I am certain I will not want to hear what she has to say, especially if it is sad news about my Aunt Mary.

7 hours later

My BlackBerry is back! Yeah!!

What a nightmare! Lesson learned, back everything up!

Yesterday it took me seven hours to re-enter all of my contacts. Oh my gosh! I didn't think I was ever going to finish it. After I finished it my husband backed it up to my laptop. In the process he discovered I was one contact short from the previous list. Oh well! At that point I was too tired to deal with it. Sooner or later I will figure out who I overlooked.

Leigh also figured out how to sync my Google calendar with my Blackberry. However by doing so birthdays and such are in duplicate. I just need a good day or so to organize it. Call me old fashioned but I am still going to keep a pocket calendar in my purse too.

So is this BlackBerry a good thing? Yes and no. It is perfect for a detail and list person like me who loves to organize. However after it crashed I am not so sure. Right now I am a little gun shy. I am afraid that I am going to do something to cause it to crash again.

This is my third BlackBerry! The first one had a software problem they couldn't fix. My second one permanently crashed due to a software issue and I haven't had the third one long enough to know how it is going to work.

My husband got a BlackBerry at the same time I did and he has never had a single problem with his! Go figure!

what time is it

So how exactly do you reset your internal body clock? I woke up at 4 AM and could not get back to sleep! My internal clock said it was time to get up!

In case if you are wondering, no, I didn't get up at 4 AM. I 'think' I got up at 6 AM (which would be the old 5 AM). Why do I only think that? Because I have no clue which clocks were set to the 'fall back' time before we went to bed!

Ahh, the joys of Daylight Savings Time!

short on wish possibilities

When I was a little girl the highlight of the 'pre-Christmas' season was the arrival of the JC Penney Christmas catalog, also known as the "Wish Book." Every year when it arrived I would go to the toy section and carefully look at every toy before selecting my favorite and writing it down on the top of my 'what I want for Christmas' list.

I memorized the page numbers of the item(s) I 'wished' for. The neat part about the JC Penney catalog back in those days, was there were toys we had never heard of much less seen before! On the other hand, there were toys I had seen advertised on television that I was able to see up close in the catalog.

The JC Penney Christmas catalog was a book of dreams and wishes.

With this new age of modern technology and computers, I wonder what the modern day child looks at to find the perfect toy to put on their Christmas wish list? One thing for certain, it is highly unlikely that it is the JC Penney Christmas catalog!

We got our Penney's Christmas catalog in the mail yesterday. Oh my gosh! It was thinner than most magazines! I couldn't believe it!

Regardless, dreaming and wishing with the JC Penney Christmas catalog will remain one of my favorite childhood memories.

my blanket

I consider myself a very sentimental person and I would also consider myself a saver, with regards to keeping items that have sentimental value.

One such item would be my blanket. When I was a little kid my sister and I shared a room. We had matching ballerina chenille bedspreads. I loved that bedspread! Chenille is so soft and has an overall good feel.

As the years passed I kept the ballerina bedspread and it sort of became 'my blanket'. I am sure you can see where this post is going. Yes, I still have my blanket!

I keep it on a shelf in my room with some of my childhood dolls. I never think about it and quite frankly I had forgotten it was there, even though I see the shelf in passing every day.

My blanket looks like a heap of old tattered rags! In fact it isn't one big piece of blanket anymore. It is more like seven or eight pieces of very old paper thin torn fabric. I think there are two pieces that have the outline of pink chenille flowers. The only 'semi intact' pieces that even remotely resemble the ballerina in the height of her glory, are her face and one leg.

Yesterday when I took a picture of it for my blog, I chuckled to myself. When I am dead and gone and someone is sorting through our house getting rid of things, that person will probably hold up my blanket a.k.a. the wad of rags and say to someone, "What is this??" The reply will probably be, "I have no clue, just toss it!"

Until that day, sentimental me will keep the ballerina blanket on the shelf.