Stringing in the Rain

My inside space is my own again.

Christmas is outside, on the patio … where it belongs.

Up at 2:30 yesterday morning, I couldn’t handle sitting around all day, doing nothing -- because of the weather, when there were things needing to be done.

It wasn’t full on rain, just drizzling when -- at 8:00, I went out onto the patio and began stringing lights.

Neighbors walking through the quad were highly amused … “Ha ha, you’re stringing lights in the rain?”

“It’s only drizzling”, said I.

Once the lights were in place, I lit them up but didn’t see any shimmer. They looked like regular lights to me which, in all fairness may have been because it was daytime and the shimmer would have shown up at night. Either way, I wasn’t thrilled because one strand of 200 wasn’t giving me enough coverage.

Sorta reminds me of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree … sparse; but no way was I spending an additional $100 for two more strands, so it was what it was, I’d live with it and moved on to setting up the gift boxes.

I opened the box containing the three white and gold and what do you know … stuffed down inside one of the three were my string lights.

That’s what happens when I don’t put things in their proper place.

I guess I was saving space last year by stuffing the lights inside the gift box, but not remembering I had done so threw me off this year.

At any rate, I no longer needed the shimmering lights so, patio decorations done by 9:30, it still only drizzling, I boxed them back up, put on my boots, rain jacket, grabbed an umbrella and returned the lights to Lowe’s, along with the Timer I thought would work better than my remote control thingy, but didn’t.

Stopping at the Dollar Tree in that area, I was finally successful, located and crossed off my list that birthday money card.

Gifting would be so much less complicated if everyone drank coffee and I could do all my shopping at Starbucks.

On the way back to the complex, the rain did come, but by then everything that needed to be done was done and I spent the remainder of the day relaxing on the couch, sipping coffee, watching the rain, enjoying everything in its proper place.

So go on and laugh yourselves silly dear neighbors. My seasonal work is done, yours yet to be. Maybe mine will draw in carole singers, as it did last year.