All Wrapped Up!

I was busy over the weekend, but it was all good.  I just wish I had an extra day or two, so that I could have some time to do nothing.  But I wish that every Monday ...

The main thing I was able to do was to finish getting all of the gifts wrapped that need to be mailed to their respective recipients.  

 I have to say that I was especially happy with how the nieces' birthday gifts turned out - just as I had imagined.  

Here is the package that contains Greg's Musselburgh Hat. When he first opens the box, this is what he'll see:

Then, once he moves the tissue paper out of the way, he'll see what it really is. 😄

I'm way more amused by this than I should be.

Now that packages are wrapped, I can concentrate on really enjoying the decorating.  I did a little bit over the weekend, but I never feel like I can really enjoy it until I know that packages are ready to go.  Of course, in a Bridget-centric world, there would be time off granted durong the holidays *specifically* for putting up decorations ...

Let's hope this coming week treats us well.  We all deserve it.

P.S., particularly to Meredith MC who commented yesterday about the yellow-colored print on my blog, and how hard it was to read.  I have to apologize - I had no idea that I had changed the type color in the posts!  Thanks for letting me know.  I have a feeling that when I was changing the header, and the color of the type in the header, I inadvertently made that change to the posts text.  I know I would have discovered it when I went to preview this post, but the sooner it could be fixed, the better, so again, sorry to anyone who thought they were going blind, and thank you so much to Meredith MC for pointing it out right away!

Oy.

Second Sunday of Advent 2021

 

"In the Bleak Midwinter"

Christmastime Friday Funny

Here's wishing all of your plans and photos go as well.  😄

Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday Mom, Advent Calendars, and Christmas Trees

There's a LOT happening today!  First of all, as you can see from the image above, I'm participating again this year in sprite's Virtual Advent Tour - which I have done for a few years now, and I'm always SO glad! It's fun to see what people have to say about this time of year, and what they are doing, what their memories are, etc.  So Happy Day 2 of that, and off we go!

Today is my mother's birthday.  We always celebrated her birthday before we really dug into the Christmas-y stuff.  Growing up, Christmastime started on December 1 and ended on January 6, and that's how we still do it now.  But my mom always said that when she was a kid, she would hate it when someone would hand her a gift and tell her it was for her birthday and Christmas.  So we always had her birthday before anything got "serious" about the rest of it.  

She's been gone for nearly 30 years, and would be 103 if she was still alive (which I'm sure would cause her to say, "Oh for God's sake!"), but I still miss her so much, and talk to her all the time.  So Happy Birthday, Mom, I hope you are having a wonderful celebration! 💓\

It's also Three on Thursday, so I thought I'd join in the fun, since I have three things I can show you.

This year, I was a little bit sad that I wasn't able to get a yarny Advent calendar.  I had so much fun with the one I got last year, but this year, it was not in the financial cards.  So I did the next best thing - I bought an Advent calendar for Hamlet.  

Last night we opened Day 1:

As you can see, he was extremely interested in it!  And as far as we could tell, the treat inside was *very* yummy. 

A very dear friend who knows both me and my niece Amanda sent us each a jam Advent calendar, which I had only ever seen during the By the Lakeside Vlogmas episodes last year.  I thought it was such a neat idea, and was completely blown away when it arrived!  Each day, you open the door to a different little jar of Bonne Maman jam.  (And I am a sucker for the little Christmas-y village, I have to say.)

Yesterday, The Tim went and bought us a Christmas tree, since he had the day off from work.

Look how perfect it is, and now the house smells so much like Christmas and pine trees, that you just can't help knowing that it really is Christmastime!

CHRISTMASTIME!!!

It all starts today in our house, albeit in a small way.  As you know if you have read this blog for a while, the first decoration that goes up is this cardboard wreath on the door (indoors, obviously).

This wreath is now approximately 43 years old, and though it has some wear and tear, we will likely put it up until it disintegrates.  We bought this wreath for our first apartment door when we lived in married student housing at Notre Dame.  I am guessing we spent about 79 cents on it, as that was the going price for most of the cardboard decorations at G.L. Perry, a "variety" store in South Bend, Indiana that has gone the way of so many little stores in so many towns.  We have a lot of "holiday decor" that originated there for times throughout the year.  😊

Now, you may say to yourself, why would we go out of our way to save this particular item, given all of the times we've moved, and the fact that over the years, we could certainly afford nicer decorations.  Well, I have a tendency - and have had it ever since I was a kid - to take really good care of things that I love, and among our various possessions, I really love Christmas decorations, so this has always been packed away with the same care that everything else has been.  But unlike the rest of the decorations, which live in containers in the basement, this lives in a large, acid-free folder stored upstairs where our stationery-type things live.  So it is easily grab-able on December 1st, and the rule is that Christmastime starts in our house officially when this goes up.

This morning as I took down a cardboard turkey decoration to put this one up, The Tim remarked, "Ah the official Changing of the Holidays."  

Sometimes 79 cents is worth more than you think.