Ladies. Gentlemen. It Has Begun.... Christmas Decorating!

Since Thanksgiving is coming up (in a neighborhood near me!), I thought I’d be all contemplative and stuff and say what I’m Thankful for. Like how I’m thankful that my family is relatively healthy and everyone has a job, and I live in a nice house and we have food to eat and junk like that. But then something happened. So now I won’t.

You know what happened? I chipped my tooth. Man! Nothing makes you less thankful for stuff than a chipped tooth. It was one of my molars too. Up top. Not my most favorite tooth, but still, a good one. You know how I chipped it? Eating a grilled cheese sandwich. Go figure. I chip one of my molars eating a grilled cheese sandwich. Unless it was the Doritos. But I figure it was my grilled cheese. Maybe I missed a bone when I was putting the cheese on or something. I should pay more attention to food preparation.

You’d think me having a chipped molar would be good enough for a whole post, not just a piddly little paragraph. Well, normally it would. But then… it happened…

“You know what would look nice?” asked the Little Woman.
“Genie pants?” I guess.
“Putting Christmas lights up around the porch,” she says like I never said nuthin’.

We’ve never had to put Christmas lights up before. I was a little proud of that fact. But hubris will bring your downfall as surely as something really sure. So this year, it’s Christmas lights. Just a little string up around the porch. That was the plan. Or at least the plan I was told. But look! We have an extra string of outside lights! What are the odds of that happening? And wouldn’t you know it? Extra light hangers! Huh. So “around the porch” became "around the porch and in front of the house and down the garage ". OK, fine., But we’re done, right? Yeah, sure. We’re done for now.

It wasn’t two hours before someone (and I’m not naming names here) noticed we have an outlet on the back porch. You know what would go great with that outlet? More Christmas lights! Not that I was surprised in the least. I can remember when we just had one Christmas tree. Now it’s the Main Tree and the Emergency Back-up Tree and the Little Trees in the boys’ rooms. I’m holding out against having a tree in our room, but this year, with the new house, we might have room. How would I know if we have room for another Christmas tree? One will magically appear to fill the Christmas tree sized void in the room. Even if I have to move furniture to create a Christmas tree sized void in the room.

I’d put more, but I’ve been trying to get ahold of my dentist for the past half hour. They say:
A) the office opens at 7:30 (it’s just after 8:00 here now)
aaaaaannnd
2. “We are not open right now. If it’s a true emergency, you should look up another dentist in the phone book!”

Things are not going as well as I’d hoped.
-Rue.

We don’t put up Christmas lights. Last year, we didn’t even have any outside decorations - just a tree in the living room. Our neighbors must think we’re a family of grinches.

What with packing and all this year, I’d be just as happy not to put up a tree, but I don’t think my kid will be happy about that. Plus taking down the tree will be a good opportunity to divide the ornaments and stuff so she doesn’t start life on her own without any decorations.
Sorry about the tooth. Hope they can fix you up right away. Who wants to go into Thanksgiving with a bum tooth? That would truly suck.

PS - I think genie pants would be stunning on you.

Sorry about the tooth. I chipped three of my front four teeth about a month and half ago. On salad. Or more precisely, the salad fork. I was just taking a big bite when one of the kids distracted me somehow. I don’t even remember how. I just remember that it hurt and I hate that tooth crunching sound. The only front tooth that didn’t chip was the one that is partly fake because I broke it when I was six years old. The real teeth just aren’t that strong.

So I went to the dentist a few weeks later and he just grinded them down to a smooth finish. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Although it did sound bad. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I hate that.

Rue you should buy boneless cheese. That way no chipped teeth and you can give Lucy cheese without worrying about bones getting stuck in her little throat. Ok, for Soupo and Katcha too.

There’s a house on the street behind my house that already has their whole yard decorated and is turning on the lights every night already! That’s just wrong! It’s ok to be putting stuff up but it should not be turned on at least until the day after Thanksgiving. Why, that’s like wearing white shoes after Labor Day and before Easter. It’s just not done!

I’m gonna drag out the Christmas stuff this weekend. I don’t do outside stuff but I like to decorate my house. I’m gonna have a party on December 13th and want my house to look all Christmasy for it.

-swampbear (who’s gotta deal with 20 people in his house for Thanksgiving first!)

Hey, Rue, did you bother to take the grilled cheese out of the frying pan before you tried to eat it?

We do almost no Christmas decorating. Just a few tabletop things that my cats have agreed not to trash.

On the other hand, the Christmas Bomb detonated at my in-law’s house on Halloween. I’m already sick of looking at it.

One of the most amazing Christmas decorating rituals I’ve ever seen involves my inlaws. The day after Thanksgiving, the house is transformed to Christmas land. The day after Christmas, everything is put away, nary a sign of tinsel anywhere.

This year will be my 21st Christmas in this family, and it still amazes me.

So sorry about your tooth, Rue.

I usually climb up on the roof and put lights up on all the eaves (usually on the weekend following Thanksgiving, not before!), but due to surgery on my right foot in August, and a badly sprained left foot in mid-October (my luck has just been great, huh?), there will be no lights this year. And hubby’s working 7 days a week now (retail hell), so he doesn’t have the time. I’ve had an “immobilization device” strapped on my foot for the last three weeks. I find out Wednesday if I have to wear it longer. So all my shopping is going to have to be done on-line!

We haven’t had a Christmas tree in several years…I just haven’t had the motivation since I lost my mom. We don’t have kids so it’s really not a necessity, and we always spend Christmas at my sister’s house.

I will probably put up a wreath and a lighted garland over the fireplace.

If Mr. Ruby was left to his own devices, we would be National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Redux. He loves outdoor Christmas lights on the house and yard from stem to stern.

A gentlemen in our neighborhood actually had so many outdoor lights on his house that he had to add a second breaker box. :rolleyes:

I have no idea where the Christmas decorations will be going this year. We’re out of free space with the extra munchkin. There will be outside lights though but not until after Thanksgiving!

We were discussing this pre-Thanksgiving lighting phenomena and have decided that’s a wee bit too early to actually light them up. I do understand putting them up early though since running wires in the snow can be difficult!

Sorry about the tooth… Dentists are intimidating though… anyone in my mouth with a drill is intimidating,

Now that I own a house (well, the mortgage company owns it, but I possess it, and possession is 9/10 of the law), I want to have outdoor lights. However, I don’t want to have anything to do with putting outdoor lights up, so I’m hoping to someday marry a man with the “tasteful outside lighting” gene. he should also have the “deep pocket to pay for the electric bill” gene as well.

Rue are you sure it was the cheese that had the bones? I’m thinking it was the bread. Unless it was whole wheat bread–whole wheat bread is boneless. But who makes grilled cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread? Without the second “l”, grilled is girled–I guess that’s when the cheese has had a sex change operation.

slortar, that cracked me up.

It wasn’t the (boneless) cheese, it was the CAST IRON FRYING PAN that Rue tried to shove in his mouth.

Yowza.

thus…de-boned!

ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH

Christmas decorations up already! Who are the brain-dead morons who are doing this??? There are so many on my street it’s already hard to get to sleep at night. Not that I know how they sleep at night either – they should be WRACKED with GUILT over putting their decorations up before Thanksgiving!

Please let me celebrate one holiday before pushing me toward another!

I chipped one of my teeth the other day on a piece of gum. Don’t ask me, I don’t know.

The whole dentist thing went pretty smoothly this morning. Once they decided to start answering their phone.

The TV over the adjustable chair was on to some “news” station and there was Baby Bush yapping away about something or other. Luckily I got my tooth drilled to distract me from that pain. As it happens, I had a big ol’ chunk knocked out of my tooth and the old filling was cracked. Drilling all that away (there was much Novicaine consumed, and at one memorable point, a spit gyser) left me with this little tooth stub, so I am the Mayor of Temporary Crown City. Tuesday, December 9th, at 10:00 I get my real crown. After that I expect to be addressed as “Your Majesty”.

Oh, and my old filling was chock full of mercury. So now I’m losing all my hair and going insane because it was exposed all weekend.

But the lights look real nice on the house. The trees wait until after Thanksgiving. Actually they wait until after the Little Woman goes shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I think she might be insane too. I should look in her mouth for leaky fillings.
-Rue. (YOUR Majesty)

She might just have been infected by your leaky fillings, assuming she kisses you and all…

um, your majesty…

First lets get the Christmas decoration story out of the way. I bought this house 4 yrs ago. Year one we put lights up around the front of the eaves in mid December, the rest of the neighborhood also had lights up and the tree was brought inside and decorated at the same time (we have a live tree that we just put in the backyard and bring in and decorate every year).

Year two, no outside lights. The tree was brought in and decorated a little over a week before Christmas. Most, but not all, houses in neighborhood had lights up.

Last year, no outside lights. We went outside to bring in the tree on Christmas eve and found it didn’t fit in the door, too late to go buy a new living tree…so my sister created a tree from clippings from a sage bush (I have a HUGE sage bush in the backyard). Just a few houses had outside lights.

Obviously I am dragging the neighborhood down.

Next, teeth problems. I can only sympathize with you Rue, not empathize. I have a couple of cavities and a couple of overlays to fill in some humongous spaces between teeth, but no major problems. My dentist has told me I could be a boxer since I have very dense bones in my jaw, maybe he just wants to gamble that I would scream like a little girl the moment I am faced by another person in the ring.

Rue I don’t genuflex very well (I have a tendency to teeter and fall over when I try), so maybe you could just get a tiara rather than a whole crown, so whatcha say.

Hey–I’ve had a crown for quite a while, and nobody addresses me as “Your Majesty.”

Of course, that may just be because I’m more the Goddess type.
You may worship me at your leisure.

i had a molar incident with grilled cheese as well. i got revenge on the tooth about 4 years ago by having it pulled. the baked bean incident is too painful to speak of.

no christmas decorating here until beethoven’s birthday.

Well, since the GirlChild and her hubby went insane earlier this year and bought a 4000 sq.ft. house with 6 (yes 6!) bedrooms and 4 bathrooms for themselves and their 2 kids, all holiday gatherings are, by default, at their house from now on. We’ll handle their overflow (if any) from now on. So anyway, no outside decorations, as I don’t go up on ladders unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s not that I have a fear of falling, it’s that I have a fear of hitting the ground really hard. Also, we may or may not have a tree, since neither of us care very much for that ritual either.

I have nothing to say about teeth, since most of mine are either metal or porcelain.

BTW, we baked 18 dozen cookies Friday and Saturday. See, we went to a charity auction a couple of months ago in a nearby town and one of the donors auctioned off a promise of 2 dozen home baked cookies and a gallon of milk every month for the next year. In an attempt to whip the potential bidders into a bidding frenzy, she brought a large plate of her cookies and passed them around. It worked.
The Missus was so taken with the idea that she resolved to do the same thing for our local auction (Saturday night) to benefit the local Hospital and visitors’ center So we baked 5 different types of cookies. (We make awesome cookies.) Except we offered a pound of gourmet coffee with our cookies instead of milk. The package went for $400.00!
Fortunately, or unfortunately, all the misshappen or outherwise extra cookies are lying about the house, calling to me, [sub]Bumbazine, Bumbazine, come eeeaaat meeeee![/sub]

Bumbacookieman