Thanksgiving weekend

[pegkerr]

I'm truly amazed by all the stuff I got accomplished this weekend.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister Betsy's. We brought a hot appetizer (baked brie, topped with apples and cranberries), pumpkin bread and pop. Delia and I made the pumpkin bread together, which was fun mother-daughter time. The girls enjoyed watching the Macy's parade.

On Friday, Rob and I got up at 4:50 a.m. and left the house at 5:15 a.m. and got ALL of our Christmas shopping done. Yes, I know that participating in Black Friday shopping is giving in to the Evil Consumerist Culture. Shut up. By shopping the doorbuster sales, I was able to stretch our holiday dollars much further, which is an important consideration, given the unemployment situation. It was actually quite fun. This is the first Thanksgiving in eight years I had Rob come with me--ordinarily, he'd be working at CompUSA all weekend and I had to do all the holiday shopping myself. Boo hiss to CompUSA; despite the agonies of unemployment, I'm so glad that he's out of there. It was fun to do it together, and nice to have him there to consult, and if there were long lines, one of us could stay there while the other hit a different store. It all went extremely well, and we got some nice bargains. And we didn't put a single thing on credit cards. All I have left to do is something for my attorneys: I'll probably bake some quick bread or something right before the holiday.

When we got home, there was a nice surprise for us: the girls had cleaned the entire downstairs and set out all the Christmas decorations. Hurrah! We celebrated by watching "Miracle on 34th Street."

I got the pictures uploaded from the belt tests and sent out to the webmaster. I sent out a few necessary emails. I did four loads of laundry and bagged five huge bags of yard waste.

We decided to get our Christmas tree, a little earlier than we usually do, but the house was all decorated already, so we went out for it Saturday night and decorated it last night. I was getting dinner ready last night, feeling unbelievably smug with how well the whole weekend had gone when suddenly--CRASH! The fully decorated Christmas tree had toppled over, dumping the water out of the base all over the floor and littering the floor with broken ornaments. My heart was in my throat as we uprighted it, but after an anxious survey of the damage, we all drew a big sigh of relief. Unbelievable, we only had about three of the ornamments we really cared about broken, and I was able to glue two of them back together. I was particularly relieved that the special ornaments we had made when each girl was a baby survived (with their baby pictures inset in a porcelin ball). A lot of the generic glass balls shattered, but that was no big deal. The tree even considerately missed the coffee table when it took its nose dive. We have it back up and redecorated (with a couple inconspicuous twine tethers to keep it upright).

So, I feel much further ahead in my Christmas preparations than I ordinarily do by this time. I had hoped to start a draft of my holiday letter, but I didn't get to it. Hopefully, I'll start it tonight or tomorrow. From here on out, it's just the cards, cookie baking, and perhaps some little gifts for friends and neighbors. I think I'll make some of those miniature Christmas trees for that. Hurrah!

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And you don't even have a cat...

(No, that's not as much of a non-sequitur as it appears. In my experience, limited though it may be, more Christmas-tree catastrophes have been due to cats than all other causes combined.)

[morganmuffle]

That was exactly my first thoguht!

Our tree has been tied to the wall ever since our cat tried to climb it as a kitten (thankfully before the decorations went on) and pulled it over on himself.

I'm getting a little scared by how many LJ people seem to be getting organised for Christmas already!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

When our Christmas tree got knocked over in my childhood, the cat was responsible, so yeah, I know what you mean.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Wow! It sounds like you can enjoy an Advent almost unencumbered by to-do lists.

Is that a real tree? Any tips for making them last?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a real tree. Best advice, I guess, is just to keep watering it. It helps if you can keep it in a cooler room, too.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I'm not getting my tree for a while, because I want it to last until Twelfth Night. But I'll definitely be more careful about the watering than I was last year - my first year on my own. And I can keep the living room cool too. Thanks!

Last year my tree fell over a couple of times until I tied it to the stair railing.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Well, one thing to consider is that if you get your tree later, it most likely won't be any fresher. They pretty much cut all the trees at the same time. The only difference would be that if you buy it soon, it would get into water that much faster.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

That's the beauty of cut-your-own farms. =D

Hi. My grandfather has a Christmas Tree Farm.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Before you mount the tree, saw an inch or so off the bottom of the trunk. This is because the sap congeals along the cut, sealing off the trunk so water won't escape. You want to remove that plug so that the tree can drink. Give it a few good sturdy bangs aganst the ground too -- drop as many needles off as you can get.

Once the tree's mounted in its stand, fill the water chamber and then CHECK IT TWICE A DAY. You never want the water level to drop lower than the bottom of the trunk. If that happens, the plug will form again, and your tree can't drink, and you'll have to chop another inch off (not fun to do with decorations on.) Make sure it's always higher than the bottom of the trunk and you're fine.

A cool room, as Peg says, also helps. Evergreens like winter, and too much heat dries them out.

Expect some needles to fall, but if the tree starts shedding huge amounts, and they are turning brown, it's dying.

Don't leave the lights on when you're not home, or if you won't be in the room with the tree -- well-watered trees don't burn, but the extra precautions don't hurt.

If the tree's been bailed (wrapped in plastic) at the tree farm or wherever you bought it, wait to remove the bailing until it's all set up in the stand, and then give it a day or two to for the branches to settle before you decorate.

The most important part is watering. Dried out trees are unhappy trees, and fire hazards. Well-watered trees will let you enjoy them all season. =)

[splagxna.livejournal.com]

color me impressed! you got a lot done in that short time!

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It would never occur to me to consider shopping on that Friday to be a significator of "Evil Consumerist Culture". While I do feel that some people are rather too wrapped up in consumption, I don't lose sleep worrying about it, and it doesn't strike me that you and Rob are especially on the wrong side of my vague dividing line anyway. In other words, I'm willing to have opinions about *what* people buy, but care much less about *when* or *where*.

Congratulations on getting your Christmas shopping out of the way, and taking advantage of the sales!

My own reason for making it a near-religious principle to not shop on that day is that *it's a total zoo*. A strictly personal decision.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

It would never occur to me to consider shopping on that Friday to be a significator of "Evil Consumerist Culture".

See this website for the Buy Nothing Day movement.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous. I love that feeling of being on top of things - particularly around the holidays so you can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

And yeah for being able to christmas shop together. It really is nice to be able to double team the checkout lines sometimes. :D

[naomikritzer]

I didn't get up before dawn, but I also shopped on Black Friday. My experience is that Black Friday shopping in a city is merely a busy but INCREDIBLY WELL STAFFED shopping day with really good sales. I went out at about 9:30, and while the doorbusters were of course all out of stock, all the smaller stuff was still readily available (I bought a folding scooter for Molly for $18 instead of $30) and there were no lines. I was at the St. Paul/Midway shopping area, and hit OfficeMax, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, and Target, though I didn't buy anything at some of those.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The staffing was definitely better this year. I've run into much worse lines in previous years. Or perhaps the state of the economy meant that less people were out.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

Thats great that you got so much done. I bought my cards today (minor Harrods indulgence moment) so intend to start writing them tonight. Other than that I am useless.

[mkaout.livejournal.com]

Might I make a suggestion for your attorneys?

Instead of baking them something, you could layer the ingredients in a jar, cover the lid with some nice fabric and attach a tag with wet ingredients needed and mixing/baking instructions.

I did cookies in a jar last year for co-workers, teachers, hostess gifts and neighbors. It was great fun to do with my daughter and we received wonderful compliments! A common one: "this is too pretty to eat!"

THere are many recipe suggestions if you google "jar cookies"... breads, brownies, and soups are also listed.

Just a thought...

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have considered that, too. I have a whole book of recipes-in-a-jar that can be given as gifts. I'll decide later this month.

[aome.livejournal.com]

I'm so impressed and envious that your shopping is all done. Go you!

Glad no one - and few treasured ornaments - were hurt. I wonder what happened?

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Yay for getting the shopping done! And why worry about evil consumerist culture? You want to give gifts, and you managed the most inexpensive way of doing it, which doesn't sound overly evil or consumerist to me.

My approach this year was to stretch out the planning and buying over several months. This tactic horrified my husband (he doesn't like to think about Christmas shopping until the turkey leftovers are done), but it made things much easier, I think. Although now I have to stop shopping.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

The tree isn't properly put up unless it's tied to at least one wall. Not my family's tree, anyway. When we had the big ones, we had wires running to the upper banister, the stair banisters, and a broomstick nailed to both the tree and the hall doorway. Granted, when we had the big ones, people could have died beneath them, but still.
I am spoiled for Christmas trees forever.

[eal.livejournal.com]

When my husband was a small child he toppled his parents' tree . . . with all of his mother's antique ornaments from Belgium on it. All shattered beyond repair.

After we were married, we spent one Christmas with them. When we went downstairs to see the tree -- it was tied to the wall.

His mother takes no chances :).

My solution is that I won't put my most fragile, most prized ornament on my tree.