Holiday Woes and Idiocy

[pbp908]

I'm talking about OUR woes and idiocies. We all need a good laugh, so I'll start.

Half of my Christmas tree won't light up. Fuses are good, but there were/are at least 50 bad light bulbs on it (still have 12 to be replaced), and with a 500 light tree it's like searching for needles in the proverbial haystack. We've bought every replacement bulb for the dratted thing at Walmart. Lowe's, which is where we bought it a few years ago, doesn't have the first bulb. If Wally World hasn't restocked overnight, I'm just buying a long string of lights and calling it good.

I'm sick of this house looking gloomy and not having a sofa that sits high enough to get up and down from. Old joints don't lift so well. Soooooo, yesterday I special ordered a new sofa for the den. It's red. I think I've officially lost it. 8 coats of red paint on the front door and now a red sofa????? You'd think Santa Claus lives here.

And I still have to finish my cards.

[pamcook]

We had half our lights that wouldn’t light last year. I bought a new string of lights. No patience for that sort of thing. Just us this year so I’ll probably just decorate the mantle. With Joel’s surgery on Tuesday, I just don’t want a lot to deal with after Christmas. I did pull out my scented candles and a few decorations.

Remember when we talked about what to do with lottery winnings? I would hire someone to decorate and then pack away those items for the holidays.

I think you’ll love that red sofa!

[pugmom]

Pam, Christmas tree light problems are sooooooo frustrating. I think you should just go buy another string - much easier.

Your red couch sounds amazing. I could never be that brave. Blue...…. maybe

My holiday woe is that I just don't feel like decorating at all this year. I would have to go all the way over to the storage unit - a whole ten minute drive - and bring back all the boxes. I could get help with that part, but then the rest is up to me. And the thing is, I don't even think the two that live with me would even notice if I didn't decorate. Then the thought of packing it all up.... ugh.
I did find three things at the thrift store last week (pics below). I may just put those out along with some potpourri and maybe a candle or two and call it good.

The tree is only two feet tall and is flat on the back so it would probably go on top of my card catalog.

WP_20181125_09_06_41_Rich.jpg (48.03 KiB) Viewed 466 times

WP_20181125_09_08_10_Rich.jpg (65.45 KiB) Viewed 466 times

[pat-czap]

Yep, the red sofa sounds lovely. It's the new neutral

I have yet to pull out any decorations, but plan to do so soon, I hope. I could hang wreath on door and another on wall and be content. I went over to neighbors house last night, and she was knee deep in Christmas stuff. She is newly widowed, but her grown daughter made her decorate, it's what Dad would have wanted. This gal decorates through the year to the nines. Inspiration for me.
Hang in there ladies.

[pugmom]

Pam C, you have a good excuse not to decorate. You need to take care of Joel. Me, no good excuse. I may have missed a post about Joel. If so, I'm sorry. I hope it is nothing serious and he has a quick recovery.

[paddlegal]

Well lets see how my tree story measures up.

But first I want a red couch and a red door too! I also want to see a photo Pam when it arrives. Sounds awesome to me.

Back to my tree: We’ve had the 7ft artificial tree for at least 12 years. Several years ago the mid section of lights went totally out. Yeah, never did find the culprit. I thought if one light went out the rest stayed on according to the slick salesman. Grrr. So I just shoved a lot of ornaments in that area an no one was the wiser. My son and I do the tree each year. He’s a saint. 6’3” and a strong guy, he would do the crawling under the staircase closet to the deep dark reaches to drag that thing out plus the ornaments. Then be able to do all the top decorating.

Last Christmas as we took down the tree and looked at that closet, we looked at each other and I said, “lets donate that thing”. Charley was totally on board with that idea. So now I have no tree. I had intended to pick one up somewhere last week but just didn’t have time. Now I have the cold that Bob came down with on Tuesday. As I was sitting on the sofa looking at where the tree normally goes I think I may have decided on a new look. I still want a tree for the grandkids but a small one. So over the windows where the tree would sit (on a table perhaps) I was think of putting up an artificial swag around it and put the remaining ornaments on it. It would be a lot easier to store too.

Oh and the reason for artificial trees is that Bob is allergic to pine trees if they are inside. He is miserable all Christmas so a real one is out. Plus I won’t deal with stringing lights. I may do some tree shopping on Amazon today rather than deal with mass humanity at a Hobby Lobby or Walmart.


And PamC I’ll be keeping my best thoughts for Joel’s surgery. I’m afraid I don’t remember what the surgery is about.

[pbp908]

Pam, don't do a lot of decorating. You have enough to deal with.

My tree is a 7' artificial. We've only had it a few years, and the dratted thing worked fine when we disassembled it last year. It must have had a private party in the storage building and blew itself out. Adam and I got it working this morning for the most part - there are still some dark areas but they can wait another year.

I like the idea of a garland with ornaments on it! I have a small tree that I can put in the den that's already decorated. All I do with it is put it in a giant leaf bag after Christmas and call it good. Lazy much?? I won't have a tree in the dining room this year because I just donated the table it sits on to Habitat ReStore. I have too much furniture! Next year, I'm taking Farley's idea!

As for the red sofa - the den is painted paper bag brown with dark green wainscoting. Yep, gonna look like Santa's house in there.

[Monica]

Ah, the annual debate of do I bother pulling out the Christmas stuff or just say to hell with it and not? I do decorate at work, because I'm at my office 40 hours a week, but for most years we go to Walla Walla for Christmas so I don't bother with the tree and such.

This year I'm undecided at the moment, because with it falling on a Tuesday and DH having to work that week due to other employees being off and some other work crap I won't get into, we won't be going there. Both my mom and my sis have mentioned coming up, but given that they have mentioned it before and it hasn't happened... not holding my breath.

I did thin out my Christmas stuff about 3 years back, but I still have 2 totes, 2 ornament boxes, an artificial teardrop wreath that hangs on the front door, and I swap the Disney Precious Moments on top of the piano for the Nativity and holiday figurines in the display case.

Putting up the tree also requires moving a chair and ottoman, and even though we changed artificial trees a couple years back to a smaller one that's prelit, I keep thinking that all I really need is garlands strung up to let me display the ornaments. I did that the first few years we were married, as we had no room for an actual tree. I still collect new ones every year. Kind of my tradition along with buying nieces and nephew at least one ornament a year.

The red couch sounds lovely, Pam P. And I do hope Joel's surgery goes well and he recovers as quickly as possible, Pam C.

[paddlegal]

I mentioned to Charley a few minutes ago of my idea of a smaller tree and using the garlands for the leftover ornaments. It wasn’t particularly favored. So back to finding a prelit, no larger than 7.5’ and a way to store it.

As soon as I am well and travel worthy, I’ll be on a hunt. I’ve spent a good hour perusing Amazon, Home Depot and Lowe’s online reading reviews and just getting more confused. It’s interesting to read a 5 star review and then a 1 star right after it for the same tree.

Back to making PAO holiday cards.

[EDelValle]

Farley, Joss and Main has some nice trees
and right now two day shipping is free

A RED couch sounds divine!

Pam, I'm going to check on some supplements that
I took to help heal my torn rotator cuff, I didn't have surgery
but the ortho thought it would be a very long time before
I had good use of my arm, but the supplements and exercise
helped a lot and my healing was much faster than anticipated.
I'll let you know what I was taking, they might help Joel heal
faster.

[Debbie J]

My hair stylist bought a new pre lit tree that rotates! That’s one more thing to go wrong. I’m putting garland on my cactus and calling it good!

[paddlegal]

My hair stylist bought a new pre lit tree that rotates! That’s one more thing to go wrong. I’m putting garland on my cactus and calling it good!

No thanks to rotating trees! In my search I found one that has a remote control for the 7 choices of lights including colors and blinking. Plus it has built in speakers! what???

Elizabeth, I will check Joss and Main...thanks!

[nchoney]

My brain still wants to put up a big tree this year.... but then my body just isn't motivated yet. And I'm not sure I can motivate Mike to bring the ornaments out of storage. So I may cave and pick up a little tree again.

Peggy may not have a tree up this year, either... last Sunday a drain leak from the bathtub upstairs caused the ceiling in the living room to cave in... just moments after she got up from the sofa and walked toward the kitchen. And she had an old plaster ceiling and then a replacement ceiling under that... so... a couple layers of wet plaster.. and wet rug.... and wet floor (100+ year old hardwood floor) ... the plumbing problem has been fixed... now comes the new ceiling and then refinishing the hardwood floor. No idea of her time frame on that, but I'm guessing it won't be before Christmas.

What is it with 2018?? LOL

[mpizzazz]

My hair stylist bought a new pre lit tree that rotates! That’s one more thing to go wrong. I’m putting garland on my cactus and calling it good!

Decades ago (the 1970s, maybe) my great aunt Catherine bought a revolving metal tree stand. You plugged it in an outlet and then plugged the strands of lights into the base. AND, it played music if you flipped a switch! Robin and I loved that thing. It was still going strong when we cleaned out my Mom's house in 2009 but Ray refused to have it in our house. I think it was the tinny music he objected to. I should find a photo of it.

Love the red sofa, Pam! A red sofa brightens up a room and you don't need any other decor.

[pamcook]

Farley, Joss and Main has some nice trees
and right now two day shipping is free

A RED couch sounds divine!

Pam, I'm going to check on some supplements that
I took to help heal my torn rotator cuff, I didn't have surgery
but the ortho thought it would be a very long time before
I had good use of my arm, but the supplements and exercise
helped a lot and my healing was much faster than anticipated.
I'll let you know what I was taking, they might help Joel heal
faster.

Thanks!