I've been working on the railroad, and the garland, and the lights and I got a work out.
My doctor is always telling me that I need to get more exercise.
Doc suggested running, but if you ever see me running, please kill whatever is chasing me, because I get winded easy and need to save my breath.
I found that out putting up Christmas decorations this year.
Funny, I don't ever remember it being so strenuous before.
I love Christmas and I love the traditions of the holiday. I am one of those folks who refuses to decorate until after Thanksgiving, when it is finally Christmas and it is the appropriate time to do so. It is now December, so by the calendar the time for decorating has officially arrived.
Friday was the day for me. I got off early, which is rare, and headed home to decorate for Christmas.
If you recall, I renovated my house and installed new flooring a few months ago. I had a toilet that got incontinent and wasn’t wearing Depends and flooded most of my house the summer before. With Hurricane Helene, insurance adjusters and contractors were all very busy, so it took me about a year to get the work done. I had to move out of my house for a couple of weeks while the renovations were underway and the new flooring was installed. I knew basically where my Christmas decorations were, but I had to actually find them.
That game of hide-and -seek eventually ended with finding my tree and decorations.
The set up of the tree went well, except for the stand not cooperating. The legs kept falling out of the base before I could get the tree set up. But, I finally got it on the stand.
Once that was done, the lights were checked out and tested and then came the garlands of red and silver beads. I had neatly wrapped them so that they could be easily unfurled. That didn’t work. The beads were all in knots on the silver strand. Not sure how that happened.
Once I got that untangled, I placed all my decorations on the branches. All are personal and meaningful: apples for Grandma and Aunt Carrie, pine cones that my sister made, booties that Cousin Josephine made, a cross for my Daddy, an angel for my friend Allison, handmade decorations from Benjamin and Breanna when they were little and of course Georgia Bulldogs and trains.
And then, it was time for the train below the tree. Is it just me, or is it a lot further to the floor than I remember? That’s when I started working on the railroad. I got the track laid, but I worked up a sweat and the weather wasn’t even warm that night. I kept having trouble getting the train on the track, but finally got it up and running.
And then, it was time to get up again. I pulled up using the couch as a brace. It was much higher than I remember to pull up into a standing position.
Next was putting up outdoor lights. We've always loved putting up outdoor lights in our family for as long as I can remember. We did so with our cedar and holly tree, but those are gone now. My brother decorated the shop. I decorated the outline of my porch. I needed to replace my lights with new ones, so I figured up the amount I would need.
I should not trust my math — ever. Best I can tell, I figured height instead of length because I ended up being way short.
I decided to take a break. I was winded and I needed it.
But, it is worth it for the joy of the season.
Just let me take frequent breaks and sit down a spell.
