I know I'm weird. (I know what you're thinking. Stop it! LOL) Who else bingewatches Christmas movies– especially old ones I grew up watching–while sitting in their recliner surrounded by Halloween decorations? Our kids are convinced I've ruined the grandkids. I've got them all thinking that we must watch Christmas movies as soon as there is a nip in the air. (I'm not above using the air conditioner along with the fireplace if I must, to create the perfect atmosphere.) It's a tradition in the Nana Harris household, after all. I have DVDs of 'Home Alone' one and two, all three 'The Santa Clauses,' 'Funny Farm,' and the classic 'Christmas Vacation,' plus dozens more; enough to keep me busy until Christmas.
David wants no part of it until the end of November bless his scrooge-like heart. Of course, I'm talking about the movies. In the meantime, the Jack-O-Lanterns are giving me very strange looks and I think the red-eyed mummy just winked at me. Freaky.
Anyway, I've spent this beautiful Fall afternoon watching Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Father Knows Best, That Girl, Burns, and Allen, Donna Reed... Well, you get the picture. All these Christmas television shows are making me a little nostalgic. I tend to get this way around this time of year, but I can't help it. I just love the holidays so much. Maybe it's the turning of the leaves or the promise of cooler weather. I'm a fan of any weather that allows me to run my natural gas fireplace all day with its handy-dandy remote control. Who could ask for anything more? I just wish I had one in our bedroom. Throw in a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and you have the perfect afternoon.
A couple of years ago we started putting the Christmas tree up after Halloween instead of waiting for Thanksgiving as we did for the first 47 years of marriage. Before you think, 'How awful! How could they usurp Thanksgiving by putting a tree up that early?' remember this–life is too short, and we need to do what we need to do to make us happy. As long as it hurts no one else, what's the harm? I've heard of some people who keep a tree up yearround and decorate it using a different theme each month. I sure wish we had a special place where I could do that. I suppose I could put one up in the office and keep it up but that wouldn't bring us much joy since we can't see it from the living room. Oh, well.
We've missed only one year without a tree and that was the year we packed up the whole house and relocated down south. We moved into our new home a week before Christmas so there didn't seem any reason to put it up in the old house just to disassemble it as we spent the month packing and toting everything to the new place.
BC (before cancer), I used to spend September through the middle of December sewing and making presents for the grands. Sewing just seems like a huge chore now and, unfortunately, cake, cupcake, or cookie decorating is out from now on. Anytime I try to squeeze my homemade frosting out of the decorator bags my hands seize up and I look like I'm auditioning for the lead witch in 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' with my gnarly witch's hands. Perfect for Halloween maybe but very uncomfortable in the long run. Although quite painful, it only lasts a few minutes and I'm able to use my hands again. That's a good thing since I don't think I look good with witch's hands. Then again, who does, besides the mean, antagonistic Wicked Witch of the East?
Now if only Mother Nature would cooperate, I'd be super content. This business of needing the fireplace roaring when we wake up, shrugging on winter clothes to head to town then shedding the layers like a snake before we experience heat stroke–ALL IN ONE DAY– is getting a little annoying.
Yesterday was in the 50s, today the 70s, and tomorrow as the rain comes, it'll be in the 50s again. For tomorrow's entertainment, I think I'll fire up the fireplace, nuke a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and bingewatch my large cache of Christmas movies. I hope the Jack-O-Lantern doesn't melt.
The only thing that would make this weekend more perfect would be sitting next to the fire in my living room while I watch the snow as it gently wafts through the air and covers the outside into a winter wonderland. That's not likely to happen for a couple of months.
In the meantime, I think I'll embrace my weirdness. After all, it keeps me entertained.