Christmas: November 2010 Archives

Will someone PLEASE tell me how to keep calm while trying to find the one bulb on a line of fifty, already wrapped around a fake Christmas tree, that's keeping a string from lighting???

I have two pre-lit fake trees that have strings that have gone out. Unfortunately, on the tallest tree this string is last from the top, meaning I have to work with my arms up over my head. And to make matters worse, this string has the little extra plastic piece that is supposed to snap in place to keep the bulb tight against the connections. It's tough to wrestle the bulbs out of their bases without twisting them and causing damage.

I decided to work on the four-foot tree that is lit with all clear bulbs. I thought it would be easy to sit down and find the one that wasn't working, but I couldn't solve that one, either. At one point I started trading white bulbs for red ones so I could see what I had already tried, but I didn't have enough red bulbs to get very far. I can either mark my starting spot with a clothes pin, test the white bulbs I have, and then swap the red bulbs for white ones, or I could buy more red bulbs to fill the string, and hopefully find the bulb that is bad.

Despite having several days to laze around, I'm really not up for this task. I think I'll go finish the laundry.

Do you recall that I have been grinching around about people who have begun their Christmas shopping before we have even gotten to Thanksgiving? Hmmmm...perhaps that was over at Facebook that I said that. At any rate, every year it becomes more irritating to me to hear Christmas carols in October, and discover that one of my sisters started her Christmas shopping last year! Bah HUMBUG, I say!

But.....I received a package today. And when I opened that package, I discovered that there was a full size finished quilt inside! My first Christmas gift, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Of course there's a story to this.

A decade ago I was a dedicated chatter. I was addicted to the computer and to chat rooms. If I couldn't log in and talk to someone, I went into withdrawal. Then, I realized that I needed to get a life, and I cut back severely on the chatting. Ultimately, I ended with a handful of people with whom share occasional e-mails, and there was one young man I "spoke" to frequently via Yahoo Messenger. As time went on, and my mother came to need me more, my time at the computer dwindled, but not before I discovered that this young man's mother QUILTED!

We sent items back and forth across the "pond," and we shared letters. She is certain that if she sits at a computer it will break, so we occasionally do snail-mail. We've been trying to get her to e-mail, or to even communicate through Skype, without a lot of luck, and our connection was dropped this summer as my mother's health began to fail, and she passed away.

My friend was selling quilts to raise cash for her daughter to build a poly house, so they could extend the growing season at their very northern home. I admired one of the patterns she had made, and told her that I'd be happy to buy just the top, to help raise funds. I thought ultimately it would be less expensive to ship it, and I could get it quilted here. So, I was absolutely floored to find the entire quilt, right down to the label, in the box!

This gift came all the way from Scotland! My friend had to be planning this during the summer to get the quilt completed and mailed off in time to beat the holiday mailing rush, and she came through like a champ! The quilt is a wonderful collection of fabrics with a very scrappy look, and a white background. When I have the chance to hang it, I'll take a picture to share with you.

So....I guess I must say, "Let the celebrating begin!" Nooooelllll, Nooooellllllll.....