Get It All Down: someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift

   Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks to all of you, for choosing to spend part of your day with me and my thoughts. It means more than you realize.
   I had a very quiet Thanksgiving. Had a leisurely breakfast with my housemates before they went to have a celebration with family out of town. I was invited to come along, but chose to stay home. The holiday tends to be awkward for me in some ways, and I've come to prefer to be on my own rather than chancing anything uncomfortable, particularly with people that I do not know well. While I had the house to myself, I put up a few decorations for Christmas. One of the housemates is not terribly fond of decorating for the holidays. It seems to be a combination of his general impatience with things that are temporary ("why bother putting it up if you're just going to take it back down again?") and also with things that are in the way. However, his feelings on the matter contrast directly with those of the other housemate, who is rather fond of seasonal reminders of transition. Therefore, my goal was to decorate in a festive but restrained way, things that would catch the eye without distracting from everything else that we've got going on, brightening the mood without bogging us down--and, most of all, keeping it all out of harm's way re: the cats.
   It was, I think, a success. I bought a few very small ornaments the other day, along with an ornament-hanger tree and another decorative tree (both designed to sit on a shelf or tabletop), and also received "donation" of some gold-colored rustic-but-not-weird decorations from a coworker who knew of my plan. Working quietly while watching Australian golf on TV (how I've missed the Golf Channel!) so as not to disturb the kitties, who were finding my activities strange enough, I hung tiny ornaments here and there around the public areas in the house, nowhere that they'll be clanging or falling, but where they can be seen and enjoyed. The biggest challenges were keeping the glitter off the cats (everything Christmasy is glittery these days!) and trying to balance the red-and-silver that I'd bought with the gold that I was given. Overall, I think it looks warm, understated, and almost exactly the way I'd wanted. If I had it to do over, I'd probably overdo it, so I'm glad it's done.
   Meanwhile, I've been working on my Who Knows How Many Annual Completely Ridiculous Gimme Gimme Christmas List. Get your pens, paper, and credit cards ready, my friends....

from Modcloth