Warm hands…

I looked at our weather here in Southern Vermont which looks great until Friday. The temps are forecasted to be in the low 60s during the day and down into the 30s at night. Next week, the daytime temps drop to the low 40s then dropping down to the 20s. It will be mid-November so that’s about right.

We pick out our Christmas tree and put it up the day after Thanksgiving. We also turn on the outdoor Christmas lights that evening. It’s a tradition Sam and I started about 6 years ago.

When I say we, I mean we pick out the tree and Sam helps me get into place in the tree stand. Then I am on my own. I decorate the tree myself because no one else wants to. That’s fine with me, I put on Christmas music, fix myself a poinsettia cocktail or two and take my time trimming the tree.

I have found since we started our business 4 years ago that I have to get things done when I can because I never know when the bottom is going to fall out is my week.

After production today, I decided to put away the front porch cushions, clean the front porch and put up the Christmas lights. Why already? I’d rather put them up with warm hands and a t-shirt on than freezing my butt off with numb hands.

It was a glorious day weather-wise, perfect for outdoor projects. Marty worked outside on the lawn, putting gas in the snowblower, filled the gas grill propane tank, and covered the outdoor kitchen equipment for the season.

The good news is all the lights were not a tangled mess, plus they all worked! I must have been careful last year when I took everything down and packed it away. Sometimes I even surprise myself! 😜

Time is flying by so fast its unbelievable. I am actually looking forward to the holidays this year, something I haven’t done in a long time. I loved the holidays when our boys were young. When they grew up it was such a big letdown when their Santa days were over and they no longer wanted to make dozens of Christmas cookies with me.

Marty and I loved picking out the perfect gifts for each boy and playing Santa Klaus on Christmas Eve. Our boys believed in Santa for a long time, we were so good at it that I had to tell both of them the “Magic of Santa Klaus” story. I didn’t want them to get made fun of for still believing or having some douchebag ruin the magic like what happened to me. Poor Noah got so upset that he said, “Oh, that sucks!” He’s a chip right off the old block, he’s is so much like me!

Of course, Sam said he knew it couldn’t be true because he would lie in bed on Christmas Eve doing mathematical equations trying to figure how Santa would have enough time to deliver gifts to everyone’s houses.🤣

I am looking forward to spending the holidays cooking up a storm, celebrating, and spending time with my grown-up family. I am super excited that my sister Jennifer is coming up to visit in between Christmas and New Year with her kids which is going to be a lot of fun.

I don’t feel like I am going to turn into the Grinch or the Winter Warlock this year. “I’m not really a mean and a despicable creature,” I just hated the holidays for the last ten years. This is so much better! ☺️

*** I took down the garland on the front porch…it looked to skimpy.