Our first stop was to visit my favourite centenarian (some who's 100 years old), Mr. B. For the first time since I arrived home, I was actually nice and toasty warm while inside someone's house. LOL. We had a nice visit and listened to him complain about not being able to have any coffee because his family bought him a new coffee maker, but he'd run out of coffee for it. It's a Keurig. Apparently he didn't have any K-cups left for it. So he's had to resort to drinking tea. I quite like tea so I didn't see what the problem was. LOL. He then went on to explain that someone threw his kettle out so to make tea, he has to microwave a cup of water until it's hot and then add in the tea bag. LOL. He really wasn't happy about not having any coffee. It was a very nice visit and it was great to see him again. He's pretty feisty for someone who's 100 years old.
Next we visited with my great Aunt and Uncle and I was gifted with a new supply of Duct Tape. White, Silver and Red rolls this time (it's a long story). Steph will be happy to hear this as it means I have a new source of insulation for my air conditioner next summer.
Dad BBQ'd some steaks for dinner and I made broccoli, mashed potatoes and fried onions and mushrooms to go with it. We had fruitcake for dessert. Yes, I like fruitcake. I got all my gifts wrapped this evening so tomorrow should be a very relaxing day.
While we were at Mr. B's, he mentioned that he didn't have to put up the Christmas tree this year and was rather happy about that. It kind of reminded me of my parents and our tree. If they could avoid putting it up, they would. I pouted and up went the tree and that was before I got here. But all of this reminded me of a funny story about how we got the tree we have now.
Over the years, we've had both artificial and real trees. The real trees used to kill mom's plant in the living room. The damn thing would get jealous and up and die. As soon as the tree was gone, it came back to life. Stupid plant. Anyhow, we used to have 2 rather old artificial trees. They were identical. The both had a broom stick like rod with holes drilled in it for the trunk and then what looked like giant pipe cleaners for branches. The ends of the branches were painted so that you know which level of the tree to stick them into. We had one of them up in the basement and I took it out one year - I don't remember how exactly, I just remember falling and landing on the tree. I'm sure it was my brother's fault. Anyhow, the one upstairs was always put up in the middle of the french doors that separate the living room and dinning room.
The side of the tree that faced the living room was my parents' side and they decorated it. The side facing the dining room belonged to my brother and I and we decorated it. Mom and dad's side had delicate straw stars and pretty angels while our side had every ornament we'd made since kindergarten plus a mish-mash of tacky ones picked up from other people over the years. The handmade ornaments included two gingerbread men that had to weigh about 5lbs each.
One year, after decorating the tree, my mom and I were sitting in the living room, reading. It was nice and quiet as the boys where downstairs. I heard a funny "creeek" sound. I looked around the room and saw nothing so I kept reading. Then all of a sudden, there was a very loud snapping sound. Mom and I both looked up at the same time and looked at the tree, just and the entire top 1/3 of the tree snapped off and fell backward into the dinning room. Neither of us moved for a few beats. I'm sure we were both stunned. I don't entirely recall our reaction at the time, but looking back on it, I'm pretty much laughing my ass off. Seriously? Who else has ever snapped an artificial tree in half? Needless to say, most of the "kid's" ornaments got thrown out that year, including the 5lb gingerbread men.
Mom and dad have already warned me that next year, there will be no tree, just mom's little 2 ft fibre optic tree, as next year is our year to host my grandparent's for dinner. My dad seems to be worried about my grandmother taking out the tree. Can't say I blame him :)
Here's hoping everyone's trees remain vertical this year.
Good Night!
Sarah
A slightly fuzzy version of the tree at Mom and Dad's from 2008
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