Full-On Festive; Eighty-Nine Weeks In

It’s up! It’s up! The tree is up!

I was visiting with a friend (HI MARION) last Thursday and I mentioned how excited I was to put up the tree that evening. “It is so LATE to be putting the tree up,” I said, as she cocked her head and looked at me. I mean, it was November 25. It FELT late.

We don’t normally put up the tree on a weeknight – I’m generally nearly comatose in the evenings – but my husband has been busy, busy, busy at work, in a “working all weekend” kind of way, and the boys inexplicably had Friday off, and so we put on our new Christmas sweaters and carped the diem.

During the summer, WWE Christmas sweaters were on clearance, and the three guys each got one, along with a snowman Roman Reigns – if you know, you know, and also I SEE YOU – and I initially rejected the idea of getting a Christmas sweater for myself. Then, I started to feel left out, but by that time the only women’s sweater left on clearance was not in my size, but no matter. I am now the Legit Boss. Again, if you know, you know.

Welcome to our tree, Roman Reigns in snowman form.

Bye, Buddy! Hope you find your dad!

I feel like we could make a Bob Ross/ Iceman comparison here. Both make no mistakes.

Our tree and decorations are – clearly – not of designer quality, but everything has a story associated with it and I love them all so much. Decorating for Christmas is one of my favourite things about the entire year; it’s definitely a family affair filled with excitement, discussion about ornaments, and general chaos.

I had a few people express surprise that my kids still enjoy this activity, and then I wondered if maybe they participated out of a feeling of obligation to their mother. I asked them separately, and they both said that it was one of their favourite Whole Family Activities of the year, which was extremely gratifying to hear.

Over a period of weeks, my husband has been working on the outdoor decorations, and they too are finished!

He also has set up the lights over the garage – which I view from the kitchen – to go on at 5:00 am, which is right when I start my yoga practice and it makes me so happy to see them.

What I’m saying is that Tiny Secret Festive Season has morphed into Full-On Festive Season.

I needed this Festive Feeling because it’s been a week, my goodness you guys. A WEEK. We’ve had some globally bad news, some personally bad news, some really sad extended-family related news, and, on a much lighter note, some personal stress from having a teenage driver.

Parents of teen drivers: do you ever get to a point where you don’t feel at least low-level anxiety when they take the car out? My friend Jen (HI JEN) said she still does even though her teen has his own car and has driven to school daily for over a year. My son does not have his own car; he drives my minivan, which is its own source of stress. On Friday, their day off of school, he drove six (SIX) of his friends to what was supposed to be an afternoon of laser tag, but because of a booking mixup that fell through. He put EIGHTY KILOMETRES on my car, driving around, until they finally ended up at Denny’s. Denny’s! It reminded me of that old comedy routine from the 80s: No one ever GOES to Denny’s. You will probably END UP at Denny’s, but no one ever says “Let’s go to Denny’s.” Truth. Well, he’s a good driver, very calm and competent, but I was feeling low-level stressed-out until he was home. The low-level stress continued when he told me one of the destinations was downtown, and the parking situation was difficult, and a right-hand turn onto a one-way street was hard with all the traffic, and you know what, my palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it.

I have to remind myself that when I was 17, I was driving all around all the time, and my parents had no idea where I was at any given time, and no way to get a hold of me. Imagine, you guys! Imagine the stress! Hoo boy. I cannot. At least these days, we can stalk our teens with various phone apps, but of course, that can lead to confusion too. Like when you think that the kids are going to laser tag over by the airport and then you see that they are actually downtown and then, weirdly, at Denny’s.

Pandemic Reading

Who Is Maud Dixon. First of all, many thanks to Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) for this recommendation. I don’t think I would have picked it up without her rave review, and that would have been awful – I enjoyed this so very much! Florence thinks she’s landed a dream job, assisting the woman who writes under the pseudonym Maud Dixon. They travel to Morocco for research, and a terrible accident ensues. Florence wonders if she can just…take over as Maud and realize her dream of becoming a famous writer. There were so many twists and turns in this book, what a great read!

Intuitive Eating. This was another recommendation, this time by my friend Anna (HI ANNA). Anna and I are book twins and she spoke so highly of this book. I felt kind of weary and reluctant to read yet another book about diet culture, but, book twins! So I picked it up and I was glad I did. This is absolutely NOT a weight-loss book or a book about how to change your body shape or size. This is a book about respecting your body, loving yourself EXACTLY AS YOU ARE, treating yourself with kindness and compassion, and rejecting the diet culture that is so pervasive in our world.

An interesting note, and one I have seen in a few books lately, is that all the latest research indicates that diets, in 95% of cases, lead to weight GAIN, not loss, and that weight cycling from dieting is associated with far worse health outcomes than wearing extra pounds. That, to me, is kind of mind-blowing. Also, when diets fail – which, again, due to research about what our bodies need and how they cope, is almost always – we tend to put the blame on ourselves, rather than the diets. The analogy used in this book is that if there was a new medication for asthma that gave us excellent results for two weeks, and then much worse breathing and also other health issues for the rest of our lives, we would not blame ourselves. We would say it’s the fault of the medication.

Anyway, it’s very interesting, and also references the famous Minnesota Starvation Experiment, which I know that I’ve referenced before as having parallels to early pandemic empty shelves and our subsequent obsession with having enough flour, toilet paper, and every other thing that was hard to get early in the pandemic. One of the most interesting things from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment is that some of the men were obsessed with food and getting enough to eat well after the experiment was over, some for their entire lives.

All of which is to say this book provided a lot of food for thought, and I didn’t even want to read it! I’m glad I did.

Such A Quiet Place. When a quiet neighbourhood is rocked by a double murder, the residents band together to incarcerate the main suspect. But when the suspect is exonerated and returns to the neighbourhood, things go off the rails. Who can you trust? This was an exciting read.

I hope you all have a great week! We are going into December already, what even! xo

Comments

  1. FULL-ON FESTIVE TIME!!

    I wanted our tree up this weekend, but Paul and Edward got distracted looking into programmable lights, so the tree is not up and I WANT THE TREE UP.

    I am SO STRESSED every time the kids are driving, it makes me think I need to reconsider Medication, because each time they’re out driving it is as if I am waiting for The Call from the Hospital or whatever. But the other day I actually FORGOT for awhile that Elizabeth was out in the car, so that seems like encouraging progress.

  2. My kids still enjoy the traditional seasonal activities– dyeing Easter eggs, carving pumpkins, decorating the tree, etc. When I suggested we had enough ornaments and maybe we didn’t need to keep buying them every year a couple years back, I nearly had a rebellion on my hands.

    Beth got a wreath at the farmers’ market and that’s on our door, but otherwise we haven’t started decorating yet.

  3. You have a Bob Ross ornament and I don’t know how you could be any cooler. What an addition to a tree. We put our tree up on Sunday while the football games were on. As one does. It’ll stay up until the Feast of the Epiphany [Jan 6] because while I’m lax on most Christmas traditions, that’s one I still abide by. Plus once the tree is up I want to get all the joy out of it that we can.

  4. Love the tree and your sweater and the wrestling Christmas items. I don’t ‘know’ but I can guess at the excitement and the interest level.

    I, too, love the Bob Ross ornament. So fun. I do enjoy setting up our tree. The kids have many memories of the ornaments they made or were gifted. There are also friendly disputes over whose ornament is whose or why one ornament might be slightly broken, etc. We are in an odd place this year – not sure where to put our tree, because we are gifting Finn with free reign over the living room. That’s usually where we put our tree. The family room would be an option, but there are usually babies in there. I will report back. I’m envious that your tree is up and beautiful. Sorry you’ve dealt with some sad/upsetting news lately.

    I do eventually relax when the kids are driving, but I do HATE it when they call me, say 5 to 10 minutes, after they’ve left the house. My mind always jumps to conclusions and I fear they’ve been in an accident. I’d never heard that Denny’s is not a place anyone plans to visit, but so true. Long story, but Coach and I ate Thanksgiving dinner there when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Lad. We’d traveled that day and found ourselves so hungry when we landed at home with nothing to eat at home, plus I was so nauseous. Good ole Denny’s.

    • Hmmm, I’m trying to remember what we did when Barks was a puppy, to keep him away from the tree. If I remember any tips I’ll let you know.

      Thanksgiving dinner at Denny’s!! That’s too funny.

      • bibliomama2 says

        When Lucy was a puppy we just hung non-breakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree within her reach, but she was tiny – not sure how a bigger puppy would react to a tree. My friend with a new kitten is definitely having issues, which is funny because it’s not me!

  5. That Bob Ross ornament is hilarious!

    Love the tree – I feel so behind this year; we have our small artificial one in the basement but aren’t planning to put up the main floor tree until mid-December and now I’m having a crisis in rethinking my decision to wait so long. We’re mid-renovation and having a tree just feels…not wise when people are walking through our house doing things but…I love having the tree up!

  6. We recently saw the Bob Ross documentary on Netflix. SO good. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

    You’re dead on about Denny’s, or at least the individual who made the joke. When I was in my twenties, we used to go to Denny’s after the bars. After hours of drinking and dancing, their grilled cheese and fries always hit the spot. 🙂

    We’ve got our tree up, but that’s all. There are no ornaments or decorations. Yet. We had a busy weekend, so I’m hopeful we can get our acts together tonight. You’ve inspired me.

  7. Every year we get our Christmas tree at the tree sale at the elementary school my kids used to go to – it supports the school and it’s right down the street. Unfortunately, this year that means I have to wait until this weekend to buy the tree and it just occurred to me that Oldest is back at college and won’t be helping to decorate for the first time in 16+years 🙁 My kids enjoy decorating for a number of reasons but one of them is that their names start with S and B and my MIL gave them ornaments that were the first letters of their names for a number of years in a row. Last couple of years they’ve starting placing the letter ornaments right next to each other so now our tree is covered in “BS”…

    ANYWAY, I used to get anxious when Oldest drove even though he’s my cautious kid because I worried about other drivers and weather, but after a few months I got less anxious. Plus, baseball season hit and he was able to drive himself home from games that went very long or that were far away so I didn’t have to get up and leave the house to pick him up from the school after games at like 10:00 pm, which made me a huge fan of Oldest driving!

    • Oh, that IS a huge benefit, the no longer chauffeuring! Oh my, I’m sorry you don’t get to decorate with Oldest, that actually made me tear up a little.

      BS…hahahahahaha!!! That’s awesome.

  8. Does a parent ever truly get less anxious over a “child” driving? Asking for a friend…

    Man-Child and his girlfriend drove to NY (not NYC, thankfully) for the holiday and I was restless and anxious until I knew they arrived and knew they were home.

    Your tree (and yard decorations) are perfect! Yes, to full on FESTIVE SEASON! Our tree is up – but currently is only sporting lights. The porch is decorated and the Christmas coffee mugs are in use – let the festive season begin!

  9. It is full on FESTIVE! The secret is out. What fun you are having there!
    (I don’t want to even think about the teen driving part!)

  10. HI NICOLE! 🙂 So very glad you enjoyed Maud Dixon! I thought it was such a fun read! (If you into that particular genre of books about writers who are terrible people, may I also wholeheartedly recommend Dream Girl by Laura Lippman, The Plot by Jean Kanff Horowitz (I think I am misremembering her name), and A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne? ALL SO GOOD, especially the latter.

    Thinking about having a teen driver someday makes me all breathless and hand flappy, so BLESS YOU for dealing with it in reality.

    And I am so sorry to hear about the bad and sad news — sending you love and light.

  11. Well, obviously the Bob Ross ornament is awesome! I want one (must google that.). I’m excited that your decorations are up, but the only problem is that I feel a huge sense of inferiority over your outdoor decs- they look amazing! Mine definitely pale in comparison, but then again my husband has not been working on them for weeks (ahem.) I do what I can.
    All those books sound good! I wouldn’t have read the Intuitive Eating one either, but after your review I might check it out. Thanks!

    • It was absolutely worth the read!

      Up here in Canada I feel we need extra lights as it is so dark so early – the sun sets around 4:30 at this time of year and it’s totally dark by 5!

  12. Wow! It looks so festive and beautiful. I didn’t think I was running late and we’ll probably put up decorations this weekend, but now I feel like I’m behind! I thought waiting until December was what I did, but I think from hereon forward, I will decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving if we are home. The extra week of fun lights will do me good!

  13. bibliomama2 says

    I LOVE the sweaters, and the Bob Ross ornament, and everything else. We’re getting the tree this week-end provided we can get one because I’ve heard there might be shortages of both real AND artificial, but I’ll panic that bridge when I come to it.
    Knowing me as you do you’d probably think I’d be anxious every time my kid is driving, and I myself find it weird that that isn’t the case. I think it’s a case of my horrible memory – once they leave I kind of forget they’re not just upstairs – and the fact that when I’m really anxious I’m anxious about EVERYTHING, so if I’m in a bad patch I would be anxious if I knew my kid was out driving (I mean, Angus lives in New York so that could be any time, but again, memory) and if I’m not in a bad patch I’m okay.

  14. Do you make your children text you when they get to a location and when they are leaving it? That’s something my mom requested of me for her sanity, hahaha. Sometimes she still asks me to do it, and I find myself asking HER to let me know when she gets home safely if she leaves my apartment later in the evening. The ciiiircle of life – now, I have anxiety about her driving!

    I love that your kids still really enjoy all the magic of the Christmas season, like decorating the tree. My brother is a full-on Christmas lover and gets so excited to decorate and do Christmassy stuff and his boys (who are just 13 and 6!!) get kinda grinchy about it.

  15. Full ON Festive. I love it. Your wrestling sweater is awesome and you are such a great team player. Love the Bob Ross and of course, the Narwal.

    Can I tell you that I still get worried about my kids’ driving? And one of them is a police officer! She had to learn how to block cars with hers and crash into moving vehicles, but I still worry about her driving to the grocery store. It never ends.
    When my girls were young-16-18 they were only allowed to have one friend in the car; it was a law really. But it was nice because ‘less distractions’. I still did a lot of praying.

    • Oh god Suz, IT NEVER ENDS!!! I wish there was a law here, but the law is “as many people as seatbelts” which begs the question – why do I have a minivan? Maybe I should have a smart car.

  16. HI NICOLE! I’m late reading this because last week was a week, but I’m glad you read that book and reviewed it. It’s really interesting and book twins! My oldest has her Learner’s and I’m already nervous about her driving. I’m going to need more coffee for when she is out late. My girls still like helping with the tree and also seeing Elf on the Shelf and where he goes. When will THAT end. Also I love Bob Ross!!

  17. I grew up putting up the tree a day or two before Christmas and then decorating it on Christmas morning (a full-family affair at our house and something my sister and I never grew tired of!)… now that I live in the US, I do tend to put the tree up earlier, just because I enjoy looking at it so much during the holiday season.

    I love your tree and your fun ornaments!

Leave a Reply