Best Tiime of Year

According to me, the day after Thanksgiving marks the most wonderful time of the year. I spend the morning shopping, sipping coffee, scouring ads and avoiding eye contact with other humans at all costs.  I leave the house looking somewhat presentable, yet by the time I return home I look as though I've been hit by a dump truck.  I spend the rest of the day filling the house with the smell of freshly baked cookies, lugging my enormous Christmas tree out of the attic before shoving the entire box down the steps and going through each ornament with the kids.  Countless memories of Grandma Claussen are stirred-up during the day, yet my all time favorite is the way she'd let us throw wads of tinsel onto her tree each year. 

 

But this year's different.  It started in October as I began to accept the fact we wouldn't be spending Christmas in our new home.  I fought with it for a while, but realized it just wasn't realistic. This past week the cabinet door fell off in the kitchen, I couldn't find a spare 12-inches to put a Christmas tree up, the kids have been camping out on the living room floor for the past 2 nights, my cd player won't play cds and the cat somehow dumped over his litter box in the basement.  I'd clean it up, but the lights are all burnt out and I can't see anything.

 

So this years' day after Thanksgiving' was different.  Did I shop?  Yes, at Shopko aka, Pamida, aka vagina.  Did I look like hell?  Yep.  Did I care?  Nope.  Did I buy anything for the kids? Nope.  Did I bake?  Yes, but only because I had cookie orders from paying customers.  Did I drag out my enormous Christmas tree and heave it down the steps?  Almost.  Before putting the kids to bed on Thanksgiving night, the thought of where to put a tree began eating at me.  Mike wanted to forget a tree altogether.  I'm still bitter about the ridiculous suggestion.  While Mike and kids watched me as if my brains had fallen out, I spent the evening aggressively rearranging the dining room to allow space for the Christmas tree.  The only problem is the ceilings only reach 8-3/4 feet.  My tree is 9.  I was temped to just leave the top off, but I don't think the lights would look right.  Therefore, I asked Mike to bring home a cedar tree from the woods.  And with that, 'It is what it is'.

 

The new dorm in our living room.

 

 

I have a major crush on this little munchin'