December

 Thanksgiving is very much in the rearview mirror now and Christmas is upon us. 

As I wrote last month, we had 19 at our Thanksgiving tables. All went well, and how Wife managed to get everything on the table all at once, and hot, is beyond me. But somehow she did. 

We don't decorate for Christmas or put up the Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend or earlier, as so many do now. In fact, it's December 9th as I write this and while Wife has hung greenery and decorated the mantle, and I have put up some outside lights, we just got the tree today and it stands naked in the family room. 

We still get a real tree and for the second year in a row, I went to a lot, picked it out and scheduled it for delivery. They put it in a stand outside, then brought it in the house. They even "upgraded" me to a new stand, free of charge. 

I might have felt bad about that, but given the handsome amount I pay for the tree and delivery of same, I don't. I'm thinking they throw a few of those stands in the delivery truck for the people who have stands they don't think are adequate, and I'm sure they can easily absorb that cost. The stand I have, a five-prong one, seems perfectly fine to me, but if they want to throw in a new one, who am I to argue? 

We will get it decorated soon enough, probably by the end of this weekend. For the two of us empty-nesters, I ask you: what's the hurry? 

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Longtime readers of this blog know our family has an international Christmas Eve. Each year we pick a different country or region, and the food and decor are centered around it. This year will be Ireland, a country Wife, Younger Son and I have visited. 

Only Christmas Eve for us will not be on December 24th. We will have Christmas Eve on the 26th and Christmas Day on the 27th. This allows the ones with children to be at their own homes Christmas morning. Younger Son and his fiance will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his fiance's family. 

Everyone will join us late Christmas Day or on the 26th, and that's when our Christmas observance will begin this year.  Wife and I are happy to be flexible and get everyone together when it works and we're just glad to get together. 

And I suppose it gives us more time to get the tree decorated!