Tag Archives: Holiday

The transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is complete!


I toyed with the idea of putting off the outdoor decorating until next weekend given that Thanksgiving was SO early this year. But then, I saw that there is a first winter rain storm predicted to arrive next weekend – and this weekend was gorgeous. Warm even in the middle of the day.

So after two days of Thanksgiving, I did move on.

Renee played helper elf again for the harder parts requiring the ladder. Thank heavens too because I had to break the rules and stand on the very top step to place lights at the highest point above my front door.  It also helps to have two brains straining to remember the logistics of light and extension cord placement – one of us could usually get a spark of memory going!

There was still a bit of drama and, yes, a complete redo of a major segment. Just as Renee was leaving we noticed there was a strand along the long wall that was burned out. Ugh! Then we both remembered this foiling us last year too and I had discovered that the strands I used on the wall were kind of off market and not sold in local stores so I couldn’t replace any dead bulbs easily. Figures! I guess when I started switching to LED strands, I bought some online that aren’t commonly used. Last year I think I “hid” that segment on one end when we tend to have extras anyway. Then I was supposed to buy new lights for the wall at the after Christmas sales….but, I forgot.

After she left, I ran to the store, bought the necessary replacement strands and proceeded to take down everything we had put up from the back fence all the way around the long wall – double UGH! All in the dark along with some bonus cold fog. Yay.

This morning I waited until the fog had burned off and went back out to finish. Then I waited until it was dark so I could see the results. And then? I saw that the two red bows hung on the two palm trees that are the hardest to access – were each only half lit up. ARGH!

I’m ignoring those for now.

The inside will be done over the next week or so. Window frame lights and mantle/piano/TV stand are done but the tree will take time. I saw a tree posted by a friend on Facebook and now I have a bit of an inspiration for a new decorating theme. One that does not require any new purchases. Winner!

New feature – wrapped the post with strands my mom gave me. Please note that the snowflakes go all the way UP. Rawr!

View from across the street of the side wall and hillside. Those are the cooperative bows on palm trees. I cut off the rebellious ones.

New fence – much easier to hang lights on than the too low crumbling mess that used to be out there. That corner behind the peach tree was a challenge – thanks Renee for squeezing back there!

One of my favorite views – since the backyard is pretty small, with every edge covered, it just glows all around you. Plus, you can see in to the white lights inside.

More random ramblings of a cold addled mind


The photo above is my first attempt at using the panorama photo function on the iPhone. This was taken Thanksgiving morning. Go ahead and hate me because yes, I live in paradise, I know!

The girls and I went for a run at Torrey Pines. Ok, actually, the text I received went like this:

“Up for an easy run at TP?”

And I immediately thought “With that hill, there is NO SUCH THING as an EASY run at TP!”

Eh, I went and yeah it was a struggle as usual, but I just kept chugging along and made it up the hill and it was so beautiful along the beach that it didn’t matter. The waves were spectacular. And? It made us feel not SO guilty about pigging out later on for what was Thanksgiving meal #1 for me.

The family meal was Friday since 27 had to work (yay!!) Damn good reason to put it off a day.

So, random thoughts….

You gotta love cats. When I got home from Thanksgiving #2 today I went straight into decorating mode. I was thankful that the whole termite discovery set me off a couple of weeks ago into the deeper cleaning I usually have to do before putting the tree up. So missing a day due to the dual meals was not a problem.

Still, you gotta move stuff around. Bring in boxes. Generally disturb the space that the felines are used to. Of course, as long as you are not running a vacuum, they are so incredibly curious that they usually end being involved in the process whether you want their “help” or not.

The best thing though, is when you move something from one spot to another. I’m thinking “Well, maybe I should just put this cat condo in the garage because I don’t think I’ve seen either of them in it or on it in months.” The condo was in the corner where the tree will go so it had to move. I ended up moving it from the north corner of the room to the south in the dining area. Just 20 feet or so away on the other end of the back wall. They wont care, they never use it, right?

Right – move something and suddenly it is BRAND NEW!!

“What’s THIS THING? Over HERE?! Look! We can scratch the side and trim our claws! OMG! There’s a cubby hole! And…a perch! I can lay down up here and see EVERYTHING!”

I swear the two of them were scrambling around that thing for at least 30 mins tonight and I just had to laugh at their obvious joy at re-discovering the condo.

Crazy animals.

Another observation I made this week is that for some reason, as soon as the Thanksgiving weekend starts, I also re-discover something. HGTV.

It’s not JUST that the regular shows are off – many of the shows on our DVR schedule still had fresh episodes. For some reason though, rather than being content to have sports or news on in the background, I suddenly crave House Hunters and Home Strange Home, and Extreme Homes and…yeah…just about whatever happens to be on .

Right on cue I turned it on last night when I got to my room at bedtime. I’ll get tired of it and/or have cycled through all the episodes by the new year and forget about it again. But for now – “Oooh! Look! There’s a picky couple dissing every property they see and I swear if they say ‘man cave’ ONE MORE TIME..but damn that’s a gorgeous floor and hey, I like the way they used that space there I wonder if I could pull that off….!”

Maybe I’m more like the cats than I care to admit :->

Outdoor Christmas lights 2011 edition


Thanks to my new camera that actually captures the light display rather decently (except for the odd purple glow in the backyard with all the multi-colored lights surrounding it) – here is the 2011 edition of my Griswold-like yard. As always, this was put up in one day. This year my eager helper was Renee who objects to being called a jolly helper elf. I don’t know why – she was a boat load jollier than either of my boys would have been (and have been in prior years!) She fully supported my notion that we should leave no lights on the shelf – old school or new. I’ve largely replaced all the strings with LED’s now anyway so the few old style lights aren’t going to burn that much more electricity. So we dangled the old red bows on the palm trees and hung the other displays on the corner bougainvillea.

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That’s 4 strands of C7 LED’s on the side wall & 2 on the back wall

5 strands of C6s strung together from the edge of the front wall, around the corner and then along the hill – ALMOST to the end. Will be all the way when I hopefully received 3 more thanks to another SDG&E light exchange program.

12 strands of multi-colored icicle style LED strands on the back patio and roof line and in the peach tree

8 strands of snowflake LED lights on the main roof line

4 large LED snowflakes on the wall posts

2 LED shaped displays on either side of the garage

4 strands of white icicle LED lights on the front hill

6 candy canes

3 LED figurines

1 old school see-saw

4 old school red bows

4 old school rope lights on the hill

2 old school displays hanging from the bougainvillea

Set on two timers to run from 5-11pm

In other words – a shit-ton of Christmas lights! All strung up by two people over 5 hours. Woot!

 

 

The warmth of lights


I know, I know – it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! But…it’s dark when I get home now. And I am hosting Turkey Day this year and I want the house to look festive and nothing says festive like LIGHTS!

Besides, Alex will be gone at Christmas this year so this is the bigger family event of the season.

(This is where you may fairly point out that Alex doesn’t give a rats butt about holiday lights. Shut up. Let me use him as an excuse!)

And I should point out that while we DID play Christmas music while we decorated the girls’ condo on Saturday – we did NOT play music while we decorated my house on Sunday. We had a football game on the TV instead :-)

Anyway, here’s the results which I am thoroughly enjoying and I must say, VERY impressed with the photo quality. Feeling hopeful about getting decent representations of the outdoor display this year.

Dining room

Oh, I should also mention that these are pre-strung green garlands from Wal-Mart. Fingers crossed (and so far, so good) that the cats continue to ignore such things as they do with the tree and mantle and piano lights from years passed. I think they are mature enough now to leave these things alone.

Living room

Yes, the extra chairs and table that I put out for the August Moms visit in October are still out and about. Which is fine since I will need them next week.

View of all three from dining room

As you can see – there were no other lights on in the house when I took the photos. That is how we have it most nights after the dishes are done.

OK, so yes, the TV might be on but this is still a lot prettier overall.

And those who know me – yes – this is just the beginning :-)