January 23, 2016

Bows, Bears, and Blooms

Taking Down the Christmas Tree

January 23, 2016

The tree on Christmas morning

Never have I been this late in taking down our Christmas tree.  Until the last 4 years or so, we have always had a real tree so the fire hazard made me get it down right after Christmas.  This year, I have been too busy or too tired to get it done.  Thankfully the grandchildren helped me put it up or we would probably not have gotten it up in the first place.

The tree minus the bows, blooms, bears, and candy canes

 

This morning I was up early and got a lot done.  I did laundry, baked biscuits for breakfast, took care of the ponds and feeders for the birds in the yard on a beautiful clear, chilly morning, and got started on the Christmas tree. 

 From China - I bought it when visiting there with my parents

 

Our ornaments are an eclectic mixture of ornaments from our travels around the United States and some from foreign countries that we gathered in travels or were gifts from others visiting various countries.  To tie all these various colors together, I use a lot of red, white, and silver.  As I started to "undecorate" I decided to take off all the red and white bows, the red artificial flowers, the bears ( I use small stuffed white polar bears and black and white pandas) and the artificial red and white candy canes.  I wanted to see what it looked like without those things to unify the look. 

Old ornaments - these are close to 60 years old,

 having been on the tree as I was growing up.

After removing those things, I realized I still had a lot of red and white, but the tree sure did look different.  Some day I might change the accent color of red, but I doubt it.  I like the way it looks.  After boxing up the bears and other small stuffed animals that surround the base of the tree, I packed up the bows and flowers.  There is still so much to do and so little energy to do it.

New ornament - from a granddaughter

I worked in the kitchen for a while, clearing a counter top and redoing a couple of cabinets.  I started lunch and Ron came in as it was cooking - good timing.  I sewed for a little bit after lunch.  I was trying out a new pattern.  I love the look, but it may take too much effort to be enjoyable.  I will see how it goes.

Old - I painted this about 49 years ago

 

Late in the afternoon, I went to Staples to use up some rewards coupons.  They arrived just as I got back from shopping there a few days ago.  I got some more storage containers so I can do away with the cardboard boxes. 

 Some ornaments are silly

 

From Staples, I went to the grocery store for meat, fresh fruit and veggies - the things I could not get at Wal-Mart on my trips there this week.

New - from another granddaughter

The kitchen needed attention and I was able to get all the recent purchases put away and the shopping bags back in the car.  I shared texts back and forth with our son in Dallas and later talked to our daughter-in-law in New Mexico.  They are all set to make their move this coming weekend to the house almost across the street.  They are excited and seem to have a good team of helpers lined up for the work.

Ornament from Denmark from foreign exchange

 student who lived with us many years ago.

I cooked some chicken breasts I had just bought, so I can make a big bowl of chicken salad for this coming week.  I also baked an apple pie that is the best in ages.  Yummy!

  From Wales - bought when I was traveling there 

 

This was a very productive day but it was small bits of a lot of projects and nothing totally finished.  I do not know how Moms with small children who work can manage. 

Some ornaments proclaim the whole reason we celebrate CHRISTMAS!