Christmas – Mostly Harmless

December 4, 2011

Christmas Tree Time!

Last year, the Sunday right after Thanksgiving I put up the Christmas tree with just the lights. I had intended to finish it after work but each week night I was too tired to do it. I get home after 7 PM and generally want to eat and relax. So the tree went a week without being completed.

Fortunately some friends came over the next weekend and with their help my family completed the tree. This year the same thing happened, except I planned it. The tree was put up this morning and after lunch my friends came over and helped my family again.

We all had a great time and Lily also put up some new decorations in front of the house. The kids made a mess in the basement but that happens when you have 6 kids running around. It’s now Christmas time and all is right in my world.

I can get used to this new tradition and I really enjoyed having our friends over with their kids.

December 24, 2010

Polish Town run successful!

It’s Christmas Eve and we’re are prepared for the big day. This year we’ve all enjoyed a nice and quiet holiday season. Some years we do the last-minute shopping spree, but not this time. Our good planning worked and we’re all set.

Just to make sure that all is right in the world, we headed to Riverhead and visited the Polish Deli there. On Christmas Day you can never have enough kabanos. We also got ham and lots of kielbasa (I especially like the double smoked variety).

It’s tough to describe what a kick I get out of visiting an authentic Polish deli. It’s like going shopping with my grandparent (on my Dad’s side) all over again. Lily enjoys it because the food is good and they have items you just can’t get in a super market but suddenly I’m 12 years old again and my grandparents are making the rounds for their monthly shopping trip.

Memories like those are especially fond to me around this time of year. At Christmas time we should all enjoy the times we have spent and will spend with our families.

December 13, 2009

Christmas tree 2009

I put the tree up last week but only today did the family put on the bulbs and tinsel. This year we could not find the glass spire for the star so we used one that we had that lights up.

It looks good and I’m very satisfied with it.

December 7, 2008

The Christmas tree is up

2008-xmas-tree

We used the old tree; no one really liked the 2007 tree. Last year’s tree was pre-lit and many of the lights went out. This one has about 20 strings of lights on it! When it gets cold it can heat up as room 🙂

I put up the branches and the lights. Mom and the kids started putting on the decorations and then Alek came and helped finish off the tree. It’s good and the whole house is nice and in the Christmas spirit.

Naturally I took lots of pictures. You can see the set of photos on Flickr.

December 21, 2007

Late Christmas shopping

Last night Lily and I left work early to catch the 5:22 PM train. The plan was to go to Toys R Us and pick up toys for all the kids we know.

It went well except we got charged twice for one of the items. Lily always checks the receipts before we leave the store so we got it fixed immediately. The customer service lady actually refunded the toy twice and we had to correct her so we didn’t walk out with a free toy. It’s the season and we just wanted to be charged for what we bought and not get anything we did not pay for.

Once we got to the car we realized that one of the kids (not ours) was getting an er, really cheap toy. I would have hated to become that kid’s Uncle who he actually wants cash from instead of a toy. We went back and exchanged it for something nicer.

There seems to be some psychological thing with kids and toy shopping. All kids that I know recognize that grown ups buy toys for other kids, but their toys all come from Santa. I used to have the same thing. Birthday toys are from grown ups, but Santa gets 100% credit on Christmas day. Santa can do no wrong and the kids idolize him.

Santa reminds me of a politician running for office. I think December 25th he gets a bounce in the polls.

Shopping took less than 40 minutes and that is just not bad. I suggested to Lily that since we were so early that we go to the mall and do some more shopping for grown ups. She is taking off tomorrow just to shop and I was informed that she enjoys shopping more when I am not around.

I don’t mind but I know I will be carrying what she buys tomorrow.

December 8, 2007

2007 Christmas tree

Here is a picture of the 2007 Christmas tree just completed today.

This year we purchased a new tree. It’s pre-lit and we added LED lights to add color. It’s also 9 feet tall and narrow at the base so it looks different from the one we had for years.

We all think it looks good. You can compare the new one to the old one at this link. The LED lights are like little colored flashlights. They project colored circles on the walls!

Disco effects… It would have been different but I could have replaced the spire star on top with a mirror ball… 🙂

December 9, 2006

Christmas decorations are up

It’s that time of year again!

The kids love the Christmas decorations. Just like last year, my parents put up the lights in the windows and on the outside. The decorations are up right now and the house looks really nice.

Tomorrow we are having my son’s birthday party. This is turning into a really good weekend.

Tag: Christmas (page 1 of 1)