Odd Jobs And The Rules of Decorating

Having tight finances causes you to take on all kinds of odd jobs to make ends meet. Around Christmas time there is always someone who needs help doing something. The week after Thanksgiving I signed(yes, I've signed his cards for him for 3 years now), stuffed, sealed, labeled and packaged up 1,100 Christmas cards to clients for my boss. You can also always count on my mom needing help decorating her trees. I know you must be thinking, "She makes her mom pay her to help decorate for Christmas? What a jerk!". What you gotta understand is the way my mom decorates. It IS a job. The word "simple" is not in her vocabulary. Everything she decorates is far beyond what any normal person would ever do. The entire house is fully decorated to rival that of Disneyland. Everywhere you look there is something interesting and beautiful to look at.On the first day I came to decorate, I pulled up and couldn't stop laughing at my Uncle's truck. I guess there is no limit to what can be decorated for Christmas. For my mom, detail is everything. She has 4 trees, I help decorate the two larger trees. One of them is 12 feet tall. Let's just say, she likes a little tree with her ornaments. I had to navigate a huge ladder around the tree and climb up and down that huge ladder hanging hundreds of ornaments.

Since I was young, I was always the one to help my mom decorate the tree so I have been properly schooled in the art of tree decorating. Here are the rules:

1. No two like ornaments can be next to each other

2. Hanging an ornament on the cording from the tree lights is unacceptable

3. The back of the tree must be decorated just as much as the front of the tree

4. If you can't find an empty branch to hang an ornament on, you're not trying hard enough

5. Just when you think you're finished, mom will find another bin full of ornaments

6. Quit your whining and get to work

Everett came with me and he was a good boy for the most part so I could get some work done. I would strap him in the Baby Bjorn and we'd decorate up and down the ladder. I don't think I'll tell Aaron about that part. Three days later I got the job done. It's such a pain doing the decorating, but once it's done it's nothing short of spectacular. It is indeed a celebration of Christ's birth and my mom goes all out to make it special.

So, Merry Christmas, everyone! It's going to be a wonderful celebration!

TIMBER!!!!

I finally finished decorating the tree last night. I was quite pleased with myself. At 3am this morning Aaron and I woke up to a jingling crash! The tree had fallen over and the ornaments went scattering all over the floor. I had noticed that the tree was leaning a little, but it looked that way from the time I put it up so I thought nothing about it. Well, that leg of the stand broke off and down the tree came! Maybe it was a cursing from my mother because I was lazy and didn't decorate the back of the tree(a decorating sin) and the front of the tree just couldn't carry all of the weight?
So, my poor angel is hanging upside-down with her skirt around her head, a very unangel-like compromising position, and there are shattered ornament bits and scratch marks on the piano. Perhaps not the best way to keep the re-sale value if I need sell it in the future.
Since I am looking at the positives this year I came up with a few...having our tree fall over gave me the opportunity to practice with my rarely-used wide angle camera lens, my piano is now dusted, and at least I have a good sturdy step ladder to help prop up our Christmas tree in the corner. So there.

Broke Christmas

Whoever did that survey that found that poor people are happier than rich people didn't bother to ask my opinion. I guess there is a difference between poor and broke. Poor means you never had anything to begin with, broke means you had it but lost it. I guess that's why I'm sulking a bit...I'm missing what "used to be".

The boat industry took a dump last year and Aaron's been out of work for almost 2 months. He's started a printing company, but like any new business it's going to take a while to get off the ground. He's working long hours and trying his best for our family. I will always love that characteristic about him. There is not one person I know that can out-work him. Until things get going, we just have to hold on as tight as we can. With many tears and feelings of failing my son, I started back to work part-time at my old job. My boss has been kind enough to let me bring Everett. (we'll see how long that lasts...) It's insane to think about how much has changed for us in the last year.

Everything is scaled back to practically zero and it's almost time to kick into survival mode. I'm surveying my home and making a list of what I can sell. I suppose if you go by Gerald Celente's prediction of the state of America by 2012, Aaron and I are just ahead of the pack. Lucky us.

Christmas also has been turned back to the bare bones. In our families we drew names instead of buying for everyone. We're also doing a gift exchange of used DVD's. Aaron and I agreed to not get gifts for each other (although, I won't be able to stand it and I'll have to at least make him something). Lucky for us, Everett has no idea what Christmas is and if things are still not up to par next year at least he'll be at the age to be perfectly happy playing with a cardboard box. (hopefully not the one we'll be living in...)

This is strange to me. It's almost Christmas and my tree is only half decorated. There is no holiday hustling and bustling. I haven't stepped foot in a store to buy anything. It almost seems like that's where my getting into the "Christmas Spirit" comes from. I know I'm supposed to focus on Christ at Christmas, and I do...but the presents sure are fun!! This year it had to be different. So, instead of moping about like I have been for the last few days, I gave myself a hearty smack across the face and woke myself up out of my pity party. Off to work I went getting myself interested in Christmas.

On went the painfully cheesy Christmas music I love so much, I baked a loaf of yummy bread and made a batch of wassail, the house smelled terrific. I went to work decorating the house.

We can't afford our usual real tree this year, my brother and sis-in-law were nice enough to let us borrow an extra tree they had. At night Moe, Everett and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and counted all the houses with lights and enjoyed the awesome scent of people having fires in their fireplaces. When we got home I turned off all the lights, lit a bunch of candles and Everett and I watched "The Grinch". I definitely felt better.

Last week I took some photos of Everett for Christmas. Thanks to digital, taking photos doesn't cost me a thing. I had a great time with my little angel. He's so dang cute and has such a sweet presence about him. I'm so happy to be his mom.

Being a grump about our financial situation doesn't help and isn't useful. I know we're not the only ones in this sinking financial boat. Everyone gets their turn in the dumps and right now, it's just ours. Things will get better (hopefully soon) and I will just have to put on a smile and look for the positive until then. Prayers are being answered along the way and my testimony is getting stronger. When I come out on the other side of this mess I will know I needed the experience, no life story is interesting without struggle or opposition.

We are going to have a great story.

Rice Cereal: The Lie

Everett has typically been a good sleeper. Recently he has been getting up more during the middle of the night. Everyone keeps telling me how much better and longer he will sleep once he starts eating rice cereal. Last night I thought I'd give it a try. I have a house full of people coming over and I needed to get some work done around the house. In order to do that, I needed a sleeping baby.

I spoon-fed him some rice cereal along with his regular dose of milk. He usually goes to bed between 9-10pm. Last night he didn't go to sleep until 11pm, it seems the cereal gave him a boost of energy. I stayed up getting the house put together, Aaron got home at midnight so we stayed up and chatted and headed to bed at 1:30 am. Just as my head hit the pillow, Everett started stirring and was ready to eat again. D'oh!

I fed him and it was back to bed at 2 am. At 5:30 am he woke up again. I fed him and it was back to bed by 6 am. At 7:30 he was up AGAIN. So, here we are...Everett is wide awake, I am a zombie, Aaron has been fast asleep all night. My house is still a wreck and I've still got to manage to get myself presentable for church and make the food for dinner tonight.

How did he manage to sleep worse with the rice cereal before bed? Just my luck, I guess.
Everett buddy, it's a good thing you're cute. This sucks.