Pathetic

Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree can't hold a candle to mine.  After an hour of inserting each furschluggen branch into slots in the trunk and carefully and artistically spreading them out last evening, I needed to move Tree over to the corner out of the way.  The trunk is in three pieces that kept separating and I finally had to hug Tree to keep it together during the shift.  Some of the deformity is exaggerated by the fake ficus tree in the corner doing one of those "fingers behind the head" things boys are so fond of doing in a group photo.  I meant to take a triumphant photo of an accomplishment.  Yeah, well.  I'll straighten out that squished section in the middle today.  Whether Tree gets decorated....  (Please note that the pig to the right is wearing his Santa suit.  Ho ho ho!)

The wind up here never reached the velocity that it did down in the valley.  Deb called early in the morning and the wind had already knocked over and broken big potted plants and played havoc with the decorations Craig had hung outside.  It was pretty cold, though, and more wood was brought to the porch.

Ralph, Celeste and I are going to have to have a meeting.  My plan to lie closer to the middle of the bed has backfired.  I certainly don't mind when they snuggle together and press up against my legs or feet when they're on the same side.  I'm one of those people who might have the comforter pulled up around my neck, but sleep hot and need to stick a foot out to regulate my temp even on a cold night.  It's when the cats turn into 50-pound boulders on either side and trap my legs that I wake up frantic to move.  I'm a little worried that they outnumber and might outvote me.

We're on the countdown to Christmas liftoff now.  I thought I was getting a grip on holiday preparations; my grip seemed to slip when I hugged Tree.  Pathetic.