From Angel, Instigator, Playground Monitor, Problem Child, and Smarty Pants:

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!!

From The Writing Playground

Oh Christmas Tree

A week ago I blogged about how much I dreaded Christmas last year. This year it’s much different. I’ve been ready to get going with Christmas since Thanksgiving, but I’d told myself I couldn’t do anything Christmas related until I finished my 50000 words for NaNoWriMo.

I finished Monday night. Well before midnight even. I didn’t have quite the sense of elation I had two years ago when I finished my first book, but it was close. Plus I knew that now I could save the still-needs-to-be-finished WIP on the external hard drive, pack away all the notes, store away my magical, mystical mojo beads, blow out my salt candle and get started with my Christmas decorating.


A tree is an important part of Christmas for me. I remember as a small child going with my daddy and sister out to woods somewhere and cutting a cedar tree. It would make the house smell so fresh. When my boys were young, we’d make an annual trek to the Christmas tree farm and chop our own. We learned the hard way to not only take exterior looks into consideration, but to make sure the trunk was straight. We had one Christmas where the tree was tied to a closet door knob to hold it upright.

Then the boys got older, headed off to college and I entered the artificial tree era. They have really nice ones now – lush and looking darned near real. Burn an evergreen candle and you’d think it WAS real. Now they even come with lights already on them. Now how cool is that?

Last year my Christmas tree was a little on the “Charlie Brown” side. It was only four feet tall and I’d bought it from a thrift store. One branch had broken where it attached to the trunk, so I had to wire it in place with floral wire. But I put that side against the wall and no one was the wiser. I decorated it with a few things I’d brought from my house plus some new dollar store decorations. It served its purpose but I knew I wanted a full size tree for this year. I even budgeted for one and figured I’d start looking early and hope for a good sale.

At Labor Day a group of girlfriends and I went to the beach to visit another friend, and when she was showing us around her apartment, she pointed to a large box in the hall closet and said, “I really need to take that to the thrift store.”

“What is it?” I asked, being nosy.

“It’s a Christmas tree.”

“Oh? How tall?”

It turns out it was a 7 ½ foot slim pre-lit tree which was EXACTLY what I’d planned to buy.

Someone had given it to her the year before and she’d decided to downsize. I offered to buy the tree from her, but she said she was planning to give it away anyway, so I could have it for nothing. We had one problem though: our car was full, so how would I get it to Huntsville?

“Easy,” she said. “I’m coming up in a few weeks and I’ll bring it then.”

Christmas tree situation solved!

This episode is now fondly referred to as the Sisterhood of the Traveling Christmas Tree.

I’m planning to pull out my boxes of decorations plus a collection of new ornaments I got earlier this year thanks to several dear friends who gave me a generous gift card to a Christmas shop right when they had everything at clearance prices.

When I get the tree up and decorated and have the rest of my place done, I’ll post pictures. Maybe I can even find some photos of the Charlie Brown tree for a before and after comparison.

So, are you a real or artificial tree person? And when do you put your tree up? I remember another real tree episode where the tree died. And I mean DIED. When you’d shut a door or even walk across the hardwood floor, you could hear needles fall. Two weeks before Christmas, every brown, dry needle was on the floor. So we undecorated it, took it to the dumpster and bought another tree. ~sigh~

It's September already!

And where in the heck have the last eight months gone?

Back to school items are already on sale, Halloween and fall items are crowding the shelves and I even caught myself looking at the price of artificial Christmas trees at Hobby Lobby last week. I need a new tree this year. Some very dear friends gave me a gift certificate to a Christmas store and because the store was having a nice sale and because I tend to think of myself as a pretty savvy shopper, I got double the bounty from the Christmas store.

However, I now have waaaaaaaaaay more beautiful Christmas decorations than will fit on my little Charlie Brown four-foot tree I got from the thrift store last year before I moved into my new apartment. Don't get me wrong. That tree made Christmas wonderful for me last year. I had only been out on my own for about a month by Thanksgiving and that's usually when I put up my tree. I had brought along a few things, bought a few others and I had my tree.

But now, I want to showcase my new stuff and a 4.5 foot tree just ain't gonna do it. So I'm going to have to start doing some serious bargain hunting for 7 to 7.5 foot slim line trees. I promise to post pictures once I get it and get it decorated. It's going to be gawgeous!

And in other decorating news, remember those Command strips I blogged about last week? I used them again. This time I put a bulletin board on the outside of the closet door in my office/spare bedroom. And because I'm having a problem getting some artwork mounted evenly on the wall, I'm going to try them with that. I have 3 of my True Romance and Confessions covers framed and on the wall. And try as I might I simply cannot get them even. I've used a level, measured carefully and the darned things are still not right. I think the Command picture hanging strips might solve the problem.

I also got an email from someone who apparently read my "favorite things" blog. I'll pass it along because some of you may be interested in entering:


I know you are no stranger to decorating your space, but did you know that a recent survey commissioned by Command products revealed that one in four women haven’t redecorated their home since Bill Clinton was in office?

Beginning September 5, Command Brand wants to reward you and your readers for creating your own amazing transformations in the Take Command of Your Space Facebook Contest. You could win $500, plus a flip-video camera and a prize pack of Command products!

Simply visit Facebook.com/CommandBrand and upload a photo or two - we love before and after shots! - along with a tip about how you use Command products to simplify, organize or decorate your space. We’re selecting a new winner every week through December 25, so you can enter more than once!

Let me know if you have any questions. Looking forward to your entry!

Best,
Alicia XYZ
XYZ Public Relations
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I'm not sure my mirror or bulletin board will blow them away, but if I come up with some other nifty uses, I might send in some photos because the $500 would buy that tree at Hobby Lobby.

Have YOU redecorated since Bill Clinton was in office (FYI this was 1993 - 2001)? If so, share some of your decorating tips. If you haven't redecorated, what would you love to do if money were no object?