Pre Christmas 2008 (iii)

The best way to spend 50 minutes of prep time is to make as big a mess as possible. That way, you're driven to move that much faster so you can actually get to the cleaning. That's at least how I operate, and how I decided to bring Christmas before Jesse came home.

My first step was to designate the stockings. I figured it would give the glitter glue the maximum amount of time to dry. I'm not sure if I've ever used glitter glue before last week. Back in my day, we used Elmer's glue if we wanted a sparkling statement, then sprinkled the glitter on top and let it sit. Nowadays it's apparently all about convenience. As if there were something wrong with pieces of glitter stored in places unknown for all eternity.

My first hint that I was using too much glitter glue came when I used an entire tube writing "Jes." My second hint was when I dropped Jesse's stocking, glitter glue down. I pulled the stocking away unscathed. The floor was not as lucky. I've always been a little heavy handed.


I then took time to hide little candies for Jesse. If I left them out at once, he'd eat them all and regret it. Hiding was much more fun, or so I thought.

Then it was time for the tree. It was a perfect fit in the phone-indent. The lights were not. They were meant to go around a real tree, and were therefore quite long. I wrapped them around the tree, but they were too heavy. Logically my next step was to grab a hammer and nails and make a way to hang them. I added nails for the stockings while I was at it. I was also careful not to hit any of the little Buddhas Jesse brought home randomly. They're happily basking in the glow.

I got everything sorted and put away before Jesse got home. He was excited about the tree and I'll say "motivated" by the candies. He searched high and low and still hasn't found them all. The glitter glue was not dry (the third hint that I used too much), so we had to wait a few hours to put it all together.

It's difficult to take pictures of our Christmas corner, because it's in a hallway opposite a wall. The only way to see it is at an angle. Unfortunately that's the worst way to take pictures of it. Just trust me when I tell you it's perfect.