Bringing in the decorations

Having bought and stored so many Christmas decorations, (I have been at this since 1962), I try to be judicious about which ones and how many I bring into the house, from storage in the garage.

This year I decided that I will bring every decoration inside and put them somewhere in my house.

Who will ever enjoy them more than the 8, 6 and 4-year old who live next door?

I am just going to make this year a memorable one from the point of view of a Christmas decoration-hoarder.

I thought I would have a decorating party in the evening so I began to bring crates of decorations in at about 11 am.

I was joined by Betty for the afternoon.

She and I put new triple A batteries in the acrylic polar bear, penguin and musical train I just bought.

We put double A batteries in acrylic Christmas trees purchased in past years – the batteries allow the colours of red and green and blue to deepen and then fade.

Betty brought one of them back over to the Johnson house to enjoy as a Christmas centre piece during dinner. So the small arguments at the dinner table were about passing it around, who was holding it for more time than another, and where it should be placed on the table as a centre piece, as in closer beside someone’s plate, that someone being the person holding it at that time.

What is Christmas without having a few good arguments over supper.

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During the daytime, Betty and I have gone through boxes that only say “miscellaneous” on them because they are full of just that: decorations from other Christmases when the themes were different than what we see being marketed this year.

For example, watch as you shop this year and see how many decorations involve bringing home the Christmas tree in the back of a red pick-up truck.

Yesterday I saw this image on tea towels, inside of glass ornaments, on Christmas cards, on dishes, and on cups and on mugs.

I hope I do not get tempted into buying any of them.

I called Catherine today, since I know that she and Hebe enjoy the Costco Christmas Singing Bear from the past, the one that sings a new carol every day and begins to the musical count down by playing, “count, count, twenty-five days until Christmas …” and on the next day “twenty-four days until Christmas…”, all the way down to the surprise of Christmas morn.

And the next day it begins to play, “count, count, 364 days until Christmas” if you are foolish enough to reset it.

Christmas is all about bringing joy to the world.

Sometimes that can be done best with some new batteries.

Arta