Deck the halls already?

Less than five minutes after I started, my Christmas tree was up and lighted. Three pieces, three plugs, and a few branches to fold down and it was done. The weather outside wasn't frightful, no roaring fire to be delightful, and surely, there were places I could go - before just letting it snow! That was it - there was snow in the forecast. Snow at this time of year means the Christmas is right around the corner. But after glancing at the calendar, I saw it was only Nov 20; and Thanksgiving was next in line with only six days away. No, we don't want any snow on the roads then - too many travel that weekend.

Nope the snow's not here yet - though it was a little cooler today - in the mid 40's. Last week they were calling for 6-8 inches for over night on Saturday into Sunday - but because of the wind and the front - it's going to go north - northeast of us - and some of the skiing venues will get some snow to pack down for their season. I live near Lake Erie - and when the lake is not frozen over, we get the lake-effect snows and sometimes that can mean 10-12 inches in a matter of a few hours. So we have missed this snow machine - well, at least I have!

Anyway, when I had a big yard sale in 2013, I sold three Christmas trees for @$10 each. What was I thinking? One of them was over seven feet tall and was loaded with white lights. It was heavy, but beautiful. My plan was to sell the house and move into a condo - one just the right size for a table top tree. Well - Christmas came, and I had to let Wal-mart rescue me. I went out and brought home a six foot tree with colored lights. It appeared small in my great room with the vaulted ceiling. As it was, I didn't move until the next spring. And this time, I took the tree with me.

But when I was younger, it was a tradition to bundle up with hats, gloves and boots, and drive out to the local tree farm. With a bow saw in Dad's hand, we would race through the trees - studying each one: too tall, too short, not enough branches, too wide, until we could all agree on just the right one. One year, my dad cut the trunk about six feet up - just to get the best part of the tree - that is, the part that would fit in the house. Mom wasn't into cutting holes in the ceiling just for a seasonal Christmas tree. Dad would let us take turns at the saw, but as a child, I just wasn't strong enough to spend much time helping. When it was down we all grabbed part of the trunk - I probably held up the top, and carried it out to the car. Dad would pay the owner and then we would tie it to the top of the station wagon, and pray it was still on there when we got home. Sometimes, Mom would stay behind, and have some hot cocoa waiting for us to warm our hands on the mugs.

I think the tree had to stay outside for a day, perhaps. I remember as an adult holding up the tree and bouncing it on the ground for all of the loose needles to fall out, and maybe snow, if indeed there was some that year.

But Dad never bought a tree before Thanksgiving. It was always on the weekend (or Sunday) before Christmas. I heard him tell the story of a time when he went out to buy a tree on Christmas Eve, and then went back the day after Christmas to pay for it.

It was also a family tradition to decorate the tree together - and reminisce about particular ornaments that were made by us kids through the years, or ones that a relative would give us. Some years we would put strings of popcorn around the tree. I think we tried cranberries one time, but only remember them falling apart as soon as the needle passed through it. And the top of the tree would be an angel or a homemade star made out of cardboard and some aluminum foil.

Every year we set the tree on a train board. My brother would add tracks that would take the train under some of the living room chairs too. We would take turns setting up all of the accessories - miniatures villages, people, etc. Almost every year, the train would successfully go around the tree, until we added a cat to our family. Shadow would sit and swat at the train. I'm sure he tried to pounce on it once or twice. Sometimes my brother would tease the cat - making the train go forward and backward - waiting to see the cat's reaction. Thankfully, our dog, Duffy, wasn't bothered by the train.

And so - these are some stories from my childhood - decking the halls. So blessed to have them in my head (and now in this blog).

More years of Christmas traditions with my own kids yet to come ... until then.

What to do without cable?

I think this is the first time since they invented cable, that I have chosen not to have it. Originally, I called about just deleting the home home since I never answered it when it rang (it was never for me because I didn't give out the number to anyone). But it was only going to change my bill by $4.05. So I inquired about cutting cable, because watching one show turned into watching another and another and I wasn't getting any else done. The computer is in my bedroom with no TV (access was available but I gave the TV to one of my kids) and the main TV was in the living room. So I couldn't mulit-task. And I knew that I really needed to be with the computer - to pay bills, to catch up with friends on FB, to watch training videos for my pt business, to write blogs, and write chapters for the book that sits in a file.

So here I am, cable-less. And of course, the timing is never right. Two of my favorite series will be showing a new season soon - When Calls the Heart and Downton Abbey. And then there's the occasional football game and all the Christmas movies on Hallmark. By the time I decide to add it back, some of those shows will be having reruns. Of course I'm aware of other ways to view shows, such as on Netflix and online. But I'm no worse for wear for not watching them at all.

Actually, I'm excited to have one less distraction in the house. I need to focus on more important tasks at hand. I have several books on my kindle just waiting for me to swipe a page or two. And they there are the books on my shelves that are only collecting dust bunnies. This is a good opportunity to keep reading and learning. It's never wrong to improve on yourself, and we're never too old to learn.

Mostly, I need to focus on writing. I joined the NaNoWriMo which is National Novel (not November) Writing Month and I have yet to start, except about 300 words I wrote earlier. But then there was a distraction and I walked away. I need to set a timer and write until it rings. There are so many words in my head just waiting to appear on paper or on the desktop. I need to remember how to do the SOC writing, that is, Streams of Consciousness. That's when you write and write and write whatever you are thinking and you don't stop to correct the spelling or the punctuation. Because it doesn't matter. What matters is that the words are written down - your thoughts are exposed, yes. That could be a good thing. You are transformed - you are a new person. Just like writing in the book program that produced the book, Emerge. I wrote page after page - not only because it was an assignment, but because it felt so natural to do. I need to get back to that kind of writing. Just let it go - no, I'm not going to start singing!

A picture is worth a thousand words - imagine how many pictures you get out of a story? Maybe not a thousand, but surely more than one if it's written with passion and clarity. I did set a goal to write a book this winter, so without cable, I have one less excuse to keep me from pursuing it. It's time to set some goals and then go after them. Always looking forward to the next adventure. Until then...