2004-01-10

I got some absolutely gorgeous roses from Fred. He called the local florist and ordered yellow roses, but the florist talked him into ordering Confetti Roses instead. They’re gorgeous, aren’t they? Fred picked up some General Tso’s and egg rolls for dinner, and then we had a cake from P3ggy Ann’s Bak3ry for dessert, so all was good. Two thumbs up to my 36th birthday!

* * * My parents really go all out for Christmas every year. They have tons of decorations – ornaments that have been around for longer than I have – and I took a bunch of pictures while I was up there. My mother collects Santas, and last year (maybe the year before) I sent her a Thomas Kinkade Santa to add to her collection. I remember these little elves from when I was small. I loved, for some reason, to tuck their legs under their arms, it was always a high point of decorating for Christmas for me. My mother has a whole light-up village on her mantel. It’s much cooler in person. There are electric candles in all the windows in the front of the house. This ceramic tree lights up. I came thisclose to buying a tree like this when we were in Gatlinburg last Fall. I wish I had. More Santas, on the built-in bookcase. And even more Santas. The village on the mantel, again. The tree. Which looked much prettier in person. I didn’t even come close to getting pictures of all their decorations. Not only do they decorate the inside of their house, they also put lights on the bushes in the front, and a tree as well. Putting up and taking down the decorations is a multi-day affair for them – when the spud and I left on Tuesday, they’d finally gotten all the decorations put away, and only the tree was left to de-ornament and put away.]]>