Holiday Memories Of The Non-Sentimental Kind

In view of the difficulty I had coming up with a Christmas memory for Poetry Monday a couple of weeks ago, I'm doing a highlights post from the holiday season just ended. That way I'll have something to prompt me next year. Assuming that I remember I wrote this.

~ This isn't really a highlight, but I hurt my knee playing Scrabble. Don't laugh; if you're getting on in years, it might happen to you. It appears to have been a result of simply sitting awkwardly for the ninety minutes it took our son to whup me. I was not aware of it at the time or I would have changed position. It's been a week now, and I'm still hurting. While I'm at it, I will add in a whiny voice that my fingers are also still hurting from my October 31 fall. That was nine weeks ago. This has to stop soon or I will have to get cross. Is this an age thing, this getting hurt easily and taking forever to heal? Or is it a fitness thing? That's probably what it is. But how can I get fit when I keep hurting myself? I know; I'll wrap myself in used Christmas tissue paper. Many, many layers of tissue paper. Bonus: I'll have the whole sidewalk to myself when I go for a walk.

~ Does having two similar things represent a collection? If so, I'm now collecting outdoor wooden deer/reindeer. I impulse-bought one at the hardware store for twelve bucks, to avoid having to figure out where the outdoor extension cord for the lights had gotten to, and then saw another of a different style at the thrift store. It cost $2.50. Best money spent EVER. It does have rather large googly eyes and its antlers are wiggly, but husband has assured me he can fix the antlers and we'll just live with the eyes. However, it kind of makes me wonder what Rudolph saw or what substances he was into.

Here, you be the judge:

Rudolph (back) and . . . unnamed deer (front)

Here is Rudolph, enlarged a bit:

Yep, his pupils are definitely big

~ When you were in elementary school, did you get the post-Christmas writing assignment every year to write about your holiday? My composition was always a list of the presents I got. Since I don't seem to have aged mentally very much since then, here is my list for 2017: three wall calendars, two books, two boxes of chocolates, a Christmas cushion, a beautiful necklace, a red polar bear, and various forms of cash/gift cards. I don't have enough walls for three calendars, but I love the thoughtfulness behind them. Maybe I can hang them in rotating shifts.

And here's the red polar bear. Were you expecting a real bear? A stuffed bear?

A wooden bear! With a Canadian maple leaf cutout

~ This year I finally got my table centrepiece made. I had the supplies to make it well before last Christmas, but my excellent procrastination skills saved the day and kept me from using up my crafting opportunity until this year rolled around.

Well, actually, I didn't make it in time for Christmas dinner this year either, but I did complete it in time for our second dinner on Boxing Day. It took longer to dig the tray out of a high cupboard than it did to arrange the items on the tray. Isn't that the way with procrastinating most of the time? What we think will take forever and require a lot of effort ends up being fine. Oh, that sounds an awful lot like a pep talk for this procrastinator, doesn't it?

Here is my centrepiece. There was supposed to be a battery operated tea light candle in the red dish, but I had no idea where I might have put it, so I put those little shiny balls in it instead.

All supplies except the tray came from the dollar store. Not everything at the dollar store is a mere dollar, which seems like a lack of truth in advertising to me, so this might have cost as much as $6. Then again, it might have been only $4. Next year I'll use a square tray instead of a rectangular one, and it will be like a BRAND NEW CENTREPIECE and the cost per use will be half of what it is this year. And the year after that I might use a ROUND tray. Can you stand the excitement?? This is what you get when you cross a crafter with an accountant.

~ Speaking of work, I didn't go to work, I didn't consider going to work, I didn't even think about work for ten days in a row. (I'm talking paid, job-type work. I did quite a lot of other, unpaid work at home.) Actually, I did think about the job for a bit on January 1, but then I ate more chocolate and made the thought go away again.


So that's it for another year.  We're back to the routine here, which is fine with me. I do love the season overall, but I'm always glad to return to sanity after the new year rolls in.

What passes for sanity, anyhow.

Question: What would YOU call that wooden deer if you were responsible for naming it?