Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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!

2 comments:

Sheryl said...

You did a maahhvelous job dahling! Nothing like the festive feeling when you walk in the door!

Kris said...

WOW!! I am speechless....it all looks beautiful!