Pre-Christmas This ‘n That

🎄This time of year can get busy SO fast. Like lots of other folks, the past couple of 
weeks have been filled with pre-Christmas activities — and some unplanned "down" time.


The "down" time included coughing, nose blowing, sniffling and feeling blah with our first (and hopefully last) colds of the season (thinking optimistically here). Grenville's not-feeling-good began during our Thanksgiving holiday in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, it didn't sideline him from enjoying holiday time visiting with family.

Once home, I started with similar symptoms. After a week or so, we sought medical attention. Grenville needed an antibiotic. I was advised to keep using over-the-counter meds.

While sidelined we s-l-o-w-l-y worked on pre-holiday things, which for me was writing Christmas cards. Grenville laughs as every year, I talk about drastically trimming the list or stopping. This year was no exception, but that was months ago and this was the past couple of weeks.

Truth be known, I actually enjoy writing cards to family and family friends  and all the folks we know from years living in our native New Jersey, and from 12+ years on the Virginia Eastern Shore and now those we know in New England. The "list" also includes cards sent to 90+ year-old friends of my late mother who passed away three years ago on December 22. I handwrite messages in every card and address them by hand, but the return labels are printed out. And, yes, I like to add holiday stickers on the envelopes too!

Yes, the cost of 50-cent cost of U.S. postage stamps makes this a costly venture, if you look at it in economic terms. And, I get that not everyone can afford to spend the $ or the time to send cards.

Some folks I know have told me they've cut down and others have said they never send a single card. That's OK and maybe in future years, I'll re-evaluate as well, but not this year. Here's why, this past weekend, we received a call from a 92-year old friend living in Virginia who told us that the card we sent "made his day." We know he won't send us one , but that doesn't matter. He was so happy to be remembered and that's enough to know.

How about you — do you write and send cards ?

Sometime in January 2019, the cost of a First Class U.S. postage stamp is escalating to 55 cents — ouch! This week when mailing the 2018 cards, I bought a supply of Forever Stamps at the current 50 cent price. Of course, I'll be sending out cards again in 2019 !

We did a few more things while homebound. For myself that included decorating our apartment entry. Many decorations are similar to last year's. The mini tree lights have a battery pack and will be lit in the evening during Christmas week, but the hallway is always very brightly lit.

This year, Grenville set up the New England winter village (Department 56) and also included include a train, He placed place the Christmas tree in the center of the village. (Last year we spent most of the pre-holiday season in Virginia preparing for the sale of our home there, then it was delayed until this past February.) Here's how the layout started out earlier this week.

And this is how it looked after completion this past weekend. It's was hard to avoid the lights from buildings across the river, but the tree and village lights looked better in a night shot.

We also did a more interior decorating, and the Nativity is always included. This set holds special meaning as it belonged to my parents and was set up during Christmas. Some of the livestock and sheep were kept from a my Nativity set; other pieces were donated.

 How about you — have you done any holiday decorating? 

One thing we didn't do was any holiday baking. But we're thinking of making homemade chocolate chip cookies and brownies later this week. Then, we're planning to eat some !