Festooning

I climbed up the creaky attic stairs ladder and retrieved the Christmas decorations today. Then I spent a goodly amount of time untangling the lights to put on the shrubbery out front. I took a break to talk to my pal, Kathie, and finished the job. Truth told: the phone call, interrupted by a dying battery on the cordless, took more time than the bush-lighting work.

I'm heading downstairs to set up the tree. Ssshhh. The children know nuth-THINK!

UPDATE, 11:30 p.m: Done. The new tree was easy-peasy to set up, the new LED lights [eat your heart out, Lileks!] were awesome, and I rediscovered old treasured memories. The ornaments from our first formal date [The School Brigade Formal, 1988] and the war [Operation Desert Shield, 1990] and our first Christmas together retrieved tender memories of young love. I found some cute little special ones from my single law school MaryTylerMoore days and also many unique hand-mades, stitched by my mom. I think I'll let the kids hang their own special ornaments that they've been receiving since their first Christmases.