Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A First Time for Everything



As I was closing the blinds in the living room yesterday afternoon, I noticed this most amazing colour in the sky. As any good blogger would do, I grabbed my camera and snapped a photo. 

My dining room table is piled with Christmas stuff - decorations mostly. I was planning to clean it all up last Thursday before going to the mainland for the weekend. However, I was called in to teach that day. I rushed home from teaching, packed my bags and we headed to the ferry. On Sunday, I arrived home to find a message on the phone asking me to teach Monday, and now today. I'm glad for the work, and trying to not let the stuff I want to do at home overwhelm me with urgency. What needs to get done, will get done.
 

We have the most Charlie Brown-est of Charlie Brown trees this year. The plan was to have it up last week, before going away. But natural trees (that's what they are called) didn't arrive until Thursday, the day we left. 

This year was a first for me - buying the tree ALL BY MYSELF. It was weird. When our children were young, going to get the tree was a special outing. Since they've grown up and left home, Tim and I go together. Not this year. The nursery closed at 5:30 and Tim couldn't get away from work. We did decorate it together, while Christmas music played. There were once 5 of those little felt angels. Three have gone to other homes. So Tim and I placed these two remaining ones close together on the tree for company.

Memories surge at this time of year, don't they?

So I ask you, what have you done recently for the first time? And is your house all decorated for Christmas and are you totally organized?

12 comments:

  1. I'm chuckling here. I'm so not "all" or "totally" this year. I think we'll call this random Christmas. I'm ok with that. Random and not all together is fine. I love that those two angels are together on the tree...

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  2. Love it! Both the beautiful sky and the sweet Charlie Browniest of trees. (That line was not a throwaway for me...clever gal!)

    As it happens, I have done one new thing this morning that was very bloggy and fun. Very. Lord willing that will be up tomorrow. This afternoon, I will do another thing, which will become blog fodder later this week, that I haven't done in over thirty years. (Don't get too excited now.)

    Yay for teaching opportunities! They'll go on Christmas break soon, right? =D

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  3. All I've been able to do is a bit of Christmas knitting. Today, I'll get my husband to bring home the groceries for the tourtière that have become a tradition over the last 3 or 4 years. We'll be going to the city this weekend and then next, spending much of Christmas there with our kids hosting various meals, taking on the traditions and making them new. So I do my best not to get in a flap about what I'm not doing. It's a surprise, in a way, that I've ended up with such a busy career at this stage of my life, and it's sometimes tough to turn away from all the richness of Christmas I savoured in the past. But the core elements of time with family, of good food, of walks in the rain or snow, of little girls' laughter and widened eyes. . . . those will be there still, I'm quite sure. And if I don't get too frantic I'll be able to enjoy them. . . As you know how to do as well. . . love how you paused to get that beautiful skyline. . .

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  4. No recent first comes to mind but in answer to the other questions...NO, not organized, NOT all decorated and it's just fine. :)

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  5. Decorated but having a hard time organizing the rest! I need to do something for the first time--it would be good for me. I am going to try to rekindle my cross stitching passion--of long ago--if I can see well enough!

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  6. i love it..
    beautiful tree.
    love for you x

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  7. Lorrie, My home is almost finished. We have our first dinner party Saturday night. I worked all weekend trying to get almost everything finished. I still need to buy fresh greenery for the mantle and a poinsettia for the dining room buffet. Other than that there is just cleaning up my mess. I can't say I've had "a first" this year....yet. Oh my ornament collection has dwindled as my daughter took her collection with her. That is how it should be. Enjoy! Bonnie

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  8. Oh yes, memories are surging around here.....like how wonderful it was when I had time to decorate lavishly, taking time to enjoy the entire process both inside the house, out on the porch, and in the garden. This year I don't even have a 'Charlie Brown tree' because we're going away, so you're way ahead of me and yours looks delightful. Organized, never seems to happen any longer - always things to be done - and some never even get done!

    Happy, Merry Christmas to you and yours dear Lorrie........and many blessings for the coming year.

    Hugs - Mary

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  9. Hi Lorrie. I have some wonderful childhood memories but I'm so looking forward to making some new ones with our two baby grand daughters. I'm so thankful to have children to celebrate Christmas again. xo Carole

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  10. It is so easy to get overwhelmed this time of year...trying to meet the expectations of others, as well as our own expectations! I admire your not to be overwhelmed with urgency. Focusing on the best...

    Answers to your questions:
    1) I don't think that I have done anything entirely new this year, unless you count making a new kind of cookie on our family baking day. ;)
    2) My house is decorated for Christmas...hooray!
    3) I am organized...on paper. In reality, not so much.

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  11. I receive your blog post by email and need to unsubscribe while I am away on a trip so I don't overload my mail box. Your email post had no unsubscribe button.
    mgemmill@xtra.co.nz

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  12. Beautiful I just love sunsets.

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