The Day Before Christmas

(Please note that the day's installments are posted at the bottom of the earlier entry.)

Our day began with mud, glorious mud. We've been having rain showers. Rain at any time, even Christmas Eve, is so welcome, after the awful drought.

The homely Christmas tree is damp. The boughs for the wreath and garland are damp. So while I wait for them to dry a bit, I'm blogging. In installments. Blogging the day as the mess in our little house turns into Christmas, however small.

I hope.

It occurred to me to do this, since we're spending our first Christmas in the country, and it's just the two of us, my husband and I. Son and daughter-in-law are spending the holiday chained to the workplace in NYC, so I thought I'd give them a virtual day of Christmas prep down here. Just think of all they're missing!

So this is the first installment: the tree:















Installment #2, two p.m.

Presents are wrapped, and the wreath that goes on the fence by the gate is up. This is a storebought wreath with the only red ribbon they had left. It does not pay to decorate for Christmas this close to the day itself. The nursery in Brenham had discarded all their live trees and greenery on Monday. We arrived on Tuesday and got fakes. Real fakes, in any event. No pretense about that. (The yucca isn't fake, though.)
















Now Installment #3, at four p.m.--the wreath, clearly handmade, including handmade bow. Once I took a test in which one of the components was a measurement of digital dexterity. Out of a possible 100, I scored seven, and they counselled me to avoid clothes with buttons. Also, not to expect much when making things like wreaths and bows.
















Our final installment, at 8:30 p.m., is the little tree with little decorations, and not too many of them. Please note the necklace of cranberries! We are pooped, and so, a very Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! (Did someone else say that somewhere? It sounds familiar...)