Renovations Days Before Christmas, WHAT!!!!!!!

Christmas is days away and I have been crazy enough to do home repairs during this already stressful holiday time.  Certainly it was nothing that I planned but I had been trying to get this contractor to come and do renovations since August.  He kept putting me off with one excuse or another.  Why would I wait you ask???  Well I had used him many times before and I knew once he got here he would do a great job so I waited and waited.  When I got a call 2 weeks ago that he could start on December 12.  I was totally irritated but my thoughts were that if I said no he would put me off even longer so I agreed and  instead of a decorated Christmas tree  I have my contractors buckets and junk piled up.

Day 1

Day 8

Maybe I should just hang some lights on the buckets and call it a tree

Mary Ann

Winter Past

As I look at my window from my upstate NY home this morning and see the bleak sky,  I know that some bad weather may be coming our way.   Snow and ice are just part of living in the great Northeast.  In my older years I can't say that I love the cold and the bad weather but I am lucky enough, at this point in my life to be able to stay home, if the weather is bad.

When I was little and growing up in Queens we had very few big snow storms but when we did wow, they were doozies.   It would take days  for the plows to get to our street.  The snow would block cars in, no school and snowball fights in the two foot snow covered road, with no worries of cars coming down our city block. When the plow finally did come through, it would bring a collective moan from all the neighbor kids that the fun was over and it was back to school.

During the winter my dad would take us often into NYC to go ice skating at the Wollman Ring in Central Park.  I would feel so small skating beneath the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Afterwards my dad who had been patiently waiting  for us to finish would  take my sister and I for a nice steamy cup of hot chocolate at a diner along the way home.

Although I have not been ice skating for over 20 years I was inspired to create this skating ornament that brought back sweet memories of gliding on the ice in Central Park.

Mary Ann

Christmas Is Coming Fast, No Stopping It.

All I can say is Wow.  This year has flown by.  I have been super busy with  creating new things, promoting my Etsy shop and everyday life.  Last year around this time is when I started my blog.  I honestly had no idea what I was doing.  I went into it with a wing and a prayer but I limped along and did OK.  After my A to Z blogging challenge in April I kind of fizzled out.  I was really exhausted to think of something to write everyday but with that said I think I am going to do it again in 2014.  I know crazy!!!!!

So I decided to repeat my very first post.  Its still applies today since I have been listening to those awesome Christmas tunes and putting up my Christmas tree.  This is the one that made me realize that I really enjoyed writing.

So my Christmas season has begun.  I was excited and could not wait to decorate my Christmas tree.  So it was time to trek up to my attic to retrieve the ornaments.  I could see the ornament box way at the back in the far left corner of the attic.  I made my way tripping over my daughters Barbie Dream House from 1980 and my sons old Tonka truck, which he made me swear to never get rid of, cursing the entire time feeling all my Christmas spirit dissolving with every step.  I finally made my way to the box and dragged it down two flights of stairs to my family room.  .

There the box sat all tattered and dusty next to the pre-lit Christmas tree whose lights had failed me. Yikes this season was already not looking good.   From a distance I could hear the garbage truck coming and for a fleeting second I thought I should just chuck the tree and the ornaments and let them intermingle with all the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers from miles around. 

Still in a bad mood I ripped open the box with a vengeance sending the cats running for cover.  As the flaps of the box opened and I look inside I feel the light of memories pouring from the contents.

As I wrap my hand around a Batman ornament, I remember buying it for my son when he was three and how he has been hanging it on my tree every year for the over 30 Christmases.  I see the faux stained glass angel that my daughter painted at my kitchen table so many years ago.  The glittery teacup ornament that my friend Chris bought me one year after telling her how I had wanted it but thought it was too extravagant to buy for myself with money being so tight.  The friendship tree that my friend Eleanor gave me one year. As I hold it in my hand I think of her kindness and how I value the times that we have spent together.  I see the bits and pieces of foam and paper that make up the ornaments that my grandchildren have made for me and how I lovingly hang them on my tree year after year.  Each ornament brings back memories of such happy times in my life.  My good mood has returned and so has my Christmas spirit.

Mary Ann