Ho, Ho, Ho!
Brrr! It's been very chilly here! We've got several inches of snow on the ground and the temperature hasn't risen above freezing in over a week.
I just had to go out for a run last Sunday, not long after it started snowing. Awesome experience. Even at 11am, my little town was still locked up tight. The inch of new snow was totally undisturbed on the sidewalks of downtown Cheney. It was snowing pretty heavy, and aside from an occasional passing car, it was eerily quiet. I've been wanting to get back out there, but the temperatures have been just a little too chilly for me. When it warms up to about 32 degrees, I'll be there!
Urs and I have been in the Christmas spirit this year, even setting up our teeny tree with fiber optic lights, hanging socks and adding lights around our living room window. Tuesday, we snuck over to her mom's house and decorated while she was out at an appointment. It was a nice surprise for her and she was so happy, she took us out for a nice lunch!
For most of our 13 years together, Urs and I have ignored Christmas. We've never been much on giving or receiving gifts. In fact, our ideal Christmas was the time we left town and went to the Grand Canyon. Christmas day was spent in Sedona, Az. Being in the desert with it's incredible red rock formations was so different from what we were used to... so non-Christmas, it was perfect. We just enjoyed being together and hiking around one of the most interesting and beautiful spots on earth.
But this year, the lights are up and gifts have been purchased. I'm excited! I want to know what I'm getting and I can't wait to show Urs what I got for her! I'm not good with surprises. When I buy someone something, I want to give it to them Right Now! I hate having to keep a secret! And, if you've got a surprise for me, I want to know what it is! I hate to wait!
When I was a kid, mom and dad bought my brother and I a slot car race track. The package was all wrapped and hidden under their bed. Every morning, after they left for work, I would dig out the gift and Very Carefully cut the scotch tape and unwrap the present. Then I'd put the thing together and play with it until it was time to go to school! I just couldn't stand it! I wanted to play with it NOW! No one ever caught on, but it definitely fed into my need for instant gratification!
I think the last time Urs and I really got into the Christmas mood, we had just moved into a new house. Christmas Tree Lane is a short looping street of 1960's custom homes. The home owners there are known for their use, or should I say over-use, of decorations during the holidays. I remember as a child, my parents driving around Christmas Tree Lane and I peering out the fogged up car window at all the lights, displays, plastic reindeer and Santa sleighs.
So, doesn't it seem strange that two people who do not "do" Christmas, would buy a house in a neighborhood that "over does" Christmas? Well, I don't think we really thought much about it until we started to meet the neighbors, all of whom informed us in one way or another that it was required that we put up Christmas lights.
Ok, so we should have figured as much, and we wanted to fit in with our new neighbors, so we went all out! There were thousands... MANY thousands of lights on the house, on the bushes up the trees. The power company loved us and air planes would mistake our roof for a landing strip! But hey, that was cool. We were going to do the neighborhood thing... just like I remembered as a kid.
As it turned out, all the original owners of the homes, the ones who went overboard with the holiday theme, had long since moved away. The newer generation of owners kept up the decorating tradition, but to a much lesser extent. Each house decorated A bush or A tree. It was like they were trying to conserve electricity or something. And then there was our house... a bright beacon on a dark night! :)
So... back to several more years of ignoring the holidays! Ho, Ho, Ho!
I just had to go out for a run last Sunday, not long after it started snowing. Awesome experience. Even at 11am, my little town was still locked up tight. The inch of new snow was totally undisturbed on the sidewalks of downtown Cheney. It was snowing pretty heavy, and aside from an occasional passing car, it was eerily quiet. I've been wanting to get back out there, but the temperatures have been just a little too chilly for me. When it warms up to about 32 degrees, I'll be there!
Urs and I have been in the Christmas spirit this year, even setting up our teeny tree with fiber optic lights, hanging socks and adding lights around our living room window. Tuesday, we snuck over to her mom's house and decorated while she was out at an appointment. It was a nice surprise for her and she was so happy, she took us out for a nice lunch!
For most of our 13 years together, Urs and I have ignored Christmas. We've never been much on giving or receiving gifts. In fact, our ideal Christmas was the time we left town and went to the Grand Canyon. Christmas day was spent in Sedona, Az. Being in the desert with it's incredible red rock formations was so different from what we were used to... so non-Christmas, it was perfect. We just enjoyed being together and hiking around one of the most interesting and beautiful spots on earth.
But this year, the lights are up and gifts have been purchased. I'm excited! I want to know what I'm getting and I can't wait to show Urs what I got for her! I'm not good with surprises. When I buy someone something, I want to give it to them Right Now! I hate having to keep a secret! And, if you've got a surprise for me, I want to know what it is! I hate to wait!
When I was a kid, mom and dad bought my brother and I a slot car race track. The package was all wrapped and hidden under their bed. Every morning, after they left for work, I would dig out the gift and Very Carefully cut the scotch tape and unwrap the present. Then I'd put the thing together and play with it until it was time to go to school! I just couldn't stand it! I wanted to play with it NOW! No one ever caught on, but it definitely fed into my need for instant gratification!
I think the last time Urs and I really got into the Christmas mood, we had just moved into a new house. Christmas Tree Lane is a short looping street of 1960's custom homes. The home owners there are known for their use, or should I say over-use, of decorations during the holidays. I remember as a child, my parents driving around Christmas Tree Lane and I peering out the fogged up car window at all the lights, displays, plastic reindeer and Santa sleighs.
So, doesn't it seem strange that two people who do not "do" Christmas, would buy a house in a neighborhood that "over does" Christmas? Well, I don't think we really thought much about it until we started to meet the neighbors, all of whom informed us in one way or another that it was required that we put up Christmas lights.
Ok, so we should have figured as much, and we wanted to fit in with our new neighbors, so we went all out! There were thousands... MANY thousands of lights on the house, on the bushes up the trees. The power company loved us and air planes would mistake our roof for a landing strip! But hey, that was cool. We were going to do the neighborhood thing... just like I remembered as a kid.
As it turned out, all the original owners of the homes, the ones who went overboard with the holiday theme, had long since moved away. The newer generation of owners kept up the decorating tradition, but to a much lesser extent. Each house decorated A bush or A tree. It was like they were trying to conserve electricity or something. And then there was our house... a bright beacon on a dark night! :)
So... back to several more years of ignoring the holidays! Ho, Ho, Ho!
posted by Barb at 5:18 PM
1 Comments:
barb the story about the present is AWESOME!, My brothers and I used to do that... :)
Drewhbend
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