Yule, Recap, Happy Mail, Tree, Cookies, and More!
This is going to be a large entry with a lot of subjects I've been meaning to get around to, so get comfy. 
So let's get to it.
Yule
Brightest Yule Blessings to all! Merry Solstice!
I'm going to try to do what I always do on this night - hold vigil through the long dark until sunrise. To me, it's very sacred day and very important to be a Watcher through the night. I say "try" only because I'm exhausted and already tired. I have been all day. Wish me luck as it's going to be a long night.
RecapTuesday of course we had the tree crashing fiasco. And I had to completely re-do the tree. (More on the finished product the second time next.) Wednesday I ran a few holiday related errands with my mom. She also brought me mail from the post office box. Within were several more cards from LJ friends as well as from the Holiday Wishes community. But there was something else in there as well. Which brings me to...
Happy MailA simple bubble mailer. No return address. Simply addressed to "M. Turner" at my post office box. An unreadable postmark. Inside was what can only be described as utterly jaw-dropping. Someone sent me two gift cards for a total of
$150 good for eyeglasses. Let me say that again:
One hundred and fifty dollars.
Instantly I have half the money I'll need to get my new glasses. (Last time, thanks to knowing someone who's an assistant manager at a place I can use the gift cards, I got both my sunglasses and my regular glasses for just under $300. The retail on both pairs was almost $800.) I can't tell you how amazingly blessed I feel. It's been such a frustrating struggle this year knowing how bad my vision is getting, dealing with the chipped lens for about six months now and being forced to stop driving at night due to the weakness in my prescription. I'm so much closer now to correcting (no pun intended!) that massive hurdle. Whomever you are,
thank you. I don't think I have words to express how thankful I truly am.
I also received a beautiful, handknit scarf from my friend, Phoe. (You can see it
here on her knitting blog.) It's made from a combination of mohair and silk in lovely shade of blue-grey and it's so very, very soft. It's very delicate looking too. Thank you Phoe for the handmade loveliness!
Tree - Take TwoAs mentioned above, Tuesday my tree collapsed. About a dozen ornaments were broken including some 60+ year old antique ones that have been in my family for three generations. It was a terrible day and took hours and hours of cleaning, getting the tree into a new stand, undoing the remaining ornaments and lights and then starting over from scratch. I have to admit, my heart wasn't in it as much the second time around. The tree looks fine, but of course, I find myself looking at it and seeing all the flaws in the ornament placement or the way the branches are laying. (Many got bent and broken during the fall so we had to rotate it to show a different angle and some places seem too empty because of it to me.) I don't think it's ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but the magic's gone out of it a bit for me. I'm sure no one else sees it's downsides quite as much as I do.
Second time around:
CookiesI made up a batch of my
Tea Biscuit Cookies on Tuesday prior to Tree Crash 2006, but I didn't get a chance to make any
Sugar Cookies yet. I'm going to try to work on that tonight. (Seeing as I have many, many hours to kill! I can't wait because they're super yummy.
Gifts, Shopping, Presents - Oh My!Last night (Thursday), we ran around and got most of our shopping done. And yes, we do tend to wait until the last minute. Not because we want to, but because that tends to be how the budget (or lack thereof truly) works out. I was trying to win a very specific item on ebay for our friend Rand, but dammit, I lost it. So back to square one for him. We also still need to get something for Love's parents. Beyond that though, we're pretty much done. Oh! I do need to get a replacement mat for the
framed photo I'm giving my sister. It was under the tree when it fell, and the water totally ruined the matting. The picture and frame thankfully were salvageable, but not the mat. Problem is I've been to two stores already and can't find another of the same color. There's one more place to check and dammit, I hope they have it. I
loved the colors in the one I chose and I'm going to be really bummed if I have to settle for something else.
Love took off tomorrow and we're going to get our remaining stuff done then. Well, correction. He's going to shop for me in the morning. I'm going to be up until dawn, so I'll be sleeping into tomorrow afternoon. THEN if he needs my participation, well, that's fine.
Downside of the extra time tonight is that I lose it tomorrow in sleep.
I think though that I'll spend some time tonight to wrap the gifts. Might as well since, again, lots of free time.
Done!Ok, seeing as I started writing this at 8:25pm and it's now 10:21pm (I stopped to run to the supermarket in the middle though), I think I've finally wrapped up all the topics that were outstanding. There was a lot I wanted to mention, hence the long entry. If I don't get a chance to post over the weekend, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend with their friends, loved ones and families, that they have a bright and beautiful Solstice and that the holidays are a source of warmth and comfort to all.
~ snow falls on
:: miss m ::
at 12/21/2006 10:25:00 PM ~
~
