December 31, 2007

Looking back at Christmas, 2007

Christmas, 2007

Christmas- This was the year my husband finally got enough lights on the tree to suit me. Lush, Northwest trees are very dark in the middle. Just the normal amount of tree lights won't do the job. Normally, we wrap the trunk of the tree in white lights, but this was a busy year, so my husband wrapped the lights around and around the outside of the tree until their brilliance blinded us. You know you have enough lights on the tree when you have to squint to look at it. The neighbor's cat hasn't been by to visit since we plugged the lights in. The tree gets better every year because the number of ornaments increases with my age. This year's tree was a stunner--some of the ornaments are close to sixty years old. I'm going to be sorry to see it go tomorrow, but a live tree needs to go as soon as it starts to dry out, unless you want to remodel.

All during Christmas, I've marveled at how easily the decorations went up. This morning I realized why: there are two more boxes of holiday trinkets on the top shelf of my office closet that I forgot about. Maybe I'll put them out for Easter...

Eagles-The lights didn't phase the eagles in the area. My neighbors tell me that two of the big birds perched in a tree near our yard and casually picked out their Christmas dinner from their chicken yard. My neighbor's clapping and shooing scared them away just as they sank their talons into a fat hen--making me think they must have been very young. I'm sorry I missed that, but I'm pretty sure that eagles and I don't keep the same schedule. If I'm up before eight it's because the stag deer in the neighborhood is whistling right under my window. I love that. He must be the world's best alarm clock, even if he is unreliable. I should mention that I don't live in the country. It's just that the increased housing has left the wilder creatures with no place to go. That's wrong. Just plain wrong, but it's too big of a subject for today.

Custer and His Naked Ladies- Read sample chapters of my new novel (and others) on my main website: http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/

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