It is a festive day. I found an empty coffee can under the sink and filled it with pine branches so that we could have a Yuletide tree. My room-mates, far from being disgusted with my efforts, were delighted. One of the stupid Kix garlands is hanging in it, as well as two actual Christmas balls, and some weird confetti-like stuff. It is about the dumbest-looking "tree" you could imagine. It has been affectionately nicknamed "the Yule stick," the "Christmas shrub," and (my personal favorite): "a partridge in a po' tree."
But hey... you don't have to pay for sticks... Especially not when they're still lying all the hell over the place from the last windstorm.
And under it are some actual presents. And that's cool. All of us struggled to afford presents for each other, but there ARE presents, and it's really cool. We've also got gingerbread cookies, some turkey, and each other. It's a good holiday, regardless of the dorkiness of the Po' Tree.
I didn't do a damned thing yesterday, so I made up for it today. I addressed all my Christmas cards (yeah, I'm late; so what...), cooked breakfast, went gift-hunting with Neil, wrapped presents, made a Yule Shrub in a coffee can... And then I got bored and cleaned the porch. Dude, that porch was scary. There was some cardboard out there that had evidently been there for about a year, and had approximately the same texture as Jell-O pudding. ...And of course, in Washington state, things GROW... That cardboard had become the forest primaeval -- in the guise of Jello-O pudding. But I needed to feel accomplished. I haven't felt accomplished over anything in weeks. If what it took was cleaning the porch, then so be it. Although it should be noted that I have finally found something I am honestly too squeamish to touch with my hands... Yikes.
I am very tired now.
Keeping secrets about presents is SO fucken difficult for me... Usually I have to resort to extreme measures to avoid blabbing. I can't stand knowing something exciting and NOT telling everybody.
Ohhhh, I wish I could tell...
I'm seriously exhausted. Gonna take a shower to rinse off the pudding feeling, and then pass the hell out.
Happy day-before-Solstice...
~Helena*