This is not it, nor is this our cat, but a looks a little like The Doodle, so what the hell?
Yes, as late as Friday I was having a stress and exhaustion induced breakdown and weeping that I didn't have the energy to do anything, much less decorate for Christmas. I'm not sure what did it - a decent night's sleep, perhaps, or the sugar from cookie consumption, but yesterday I not only did some much-needed cleaning around the house, but went out, bought a tree, lugged it home and up 4 flights of stairs, set it up and put the lights on, all by myself! The only hitches I hit were a severe lack of needle retention (it was the last tree at the store, so, although it turned out to be the exact perfect size, it was a wee bit dry), and angling it through the curvy stairways in our 19th-century building.
I wanted to surprise Mrs. Nator with it, but I had to call her at her office party to ask where the recharged battery for the power saw was. It didn't help me any, because she had no idea, but it proved a good story for her coworkers, as she told them how concerned she was about what was going on when I suddenly called threatening to use power tools for some unknown reason. "Honey, put the cats on the phone..." Anyway, the needles tracked up the staircase would have been a dead giveaway when she got home, that is if she wasn't too drunk to notice...
Anyway, now all we have to do it decorate it tonight with some of my ridiculous collection of vintage ornaments. I'm feeling tired today, but I will be glad to have it done for the days I will have off and be home for the holidays (provided no cats destroy it while we're in The Dirty South). Nothing is quite so cozy as a Christmas tree twinkling away. And it covers the smells of cat piss and turtle funk, too!
By the way, we got all our care packages mailed out this weekend, too, so clearly we are totally awesome. I'm sure you are dying to know what sorts of cookies we sent out, so here's a list:
- Chocolate/candied ginger drops
- Pecan sandies
- Lemon iced cookies
- Chocolate shortbread with a white chocolate/peppermint fondant
- Linzer cookies &
- a caramel/chocolate cracker bark (very white trash and utterly addictive)
One more day of work to get through, now, and I'm off until the 28th. Woo-hoo!
If you do any holiday prep, what is it? How's it goin'?
6 comments:
i live in a tiny rented room, and i'm going to my folks for the hols anyway, so no decorating around hereabouts.
but at home i have an outhouse christmas tree ornament. it rocks.
Lemon Iced Cookies...YUM!!! :P
Our holiday prep is all done but the wrappin' ... and that part falls to Mr. Smith, with the exception of the things I have for him. I am the woman for whom "gift bags" were invented, let me tell ya! Our tree is up, the exterior of the house is decorated, the cards are sent, the music's been blaring. Em's favorite tune of the mo is the Beach Boys' rendition of Little Saint Nick, which is the new interval by which I measure time. The drive to preschool? 12 repetitions of LSN. The trip to the library? 8 repetitions. Let me tell you, you listen to the same song long enough and all of a sudden, 1 minute and 57 seconds can seem like an eternity!
Those cookies sound amazing! We've only made decorated sugar cookie cutouts (in star, Christmas tree, teddy bear and dinosaur shapes), peppermint bark, peanut brittle (I found the easiest, microwave recipe ever, and it is soooo delish too) and chocolate covered pretzels. Basically, things that are simple to allow for my 3.5 year old assistant chef to participate.
Hope you have safe and smooth travels and a very merry Christmas! We won't be heading any farther south than Jersey, ourselves......
There's a white-trash cookie? I had no idea. Inneresting.
We finally got our tree, too, last Saturday. It's all decorated, however i never got to vaccuum under the tree after we put it up (scads of needles), so i still haven't put the skirt around it and it looks kind of nakey. The only decoration outside is a nice fresh wreath and inside... i still have the boxes of xmas crap waiting to be unpacked and strewn about the house.
I am christmas-lazy this year.
and my care package is going where? ;-)
what a darling photo. happy to hear you've recovered from the mini meltdown and are getting in the spirit.
i've resigned from christmas this year . . . big hugs and warm wishes to you and mrs nator
Cookies, yum...
Those are all my favorites. Why don't you start a mail order business -- Da Christmas Cookie Nator Shoppe.
My Christmas prep is to finish it all by the 15th of December and immediately go on a Caribbean cruise until the 23rd. Now how do I manage a family party for 12 on Boxing Day? I hope some stores are open on Christmas Day!!!
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