Ornaments

Thanksgiving is under our belts (cough - literally and figuratively, unfortunately) and we're launching into Christmas at full speed. For the first time since living together since December 2004, we're decorating a tree for our apartment! I'm typically a Scrooge about festiveness and the Holidays, but as I age I find myself becoming increasingly nostalgic and sentimental. Strange sensations for me to experience. Nevertheless, when Roger and Mary and Alex were in town, we picked up a couple of NYC tree ornaments at Bryant Park. Now, I must say that my entire life, the only trees I've ever really admired enough to not mind observing, I've preferred a themed decorated tree over a haphazardly random collectible ornament tree. It's an aesthetic I prefer. A co-worker showed me photographs of her tree on her camera phone, and it's beautiful: different colored round ornaments, monochromatic lights, etc. However, over the course of a few years, Craig's mom has gifted us with different (and lovely) ornaments, Craig and I purchased a Danforth Pewter ornament in Burlington, VT, and Craig repossessed some of his childhood ornaments. So, this experience will be interesting for me. I wonder how I will react? Craig is excited about the haphazard collectibles, and I'm excited that he's excited, so that's all that really matters.*We've had a hectic week - went to see the New York Rangers hockey game one night, attended a co-worker's mother's wake another, and altogether haven't felt like we have been home much. Craig is showering now and then I will and we are going holiday decoration shopping in the neighborhood. I went to Rainbow Ace again, which is surprisingly not that picked over yet (I figured by now the 20% discount on all merchandise would have people scrambling to save on household goods!) and purchased a 5-quart slow cooker (my other is only 4) because I believe that Mary's Guiness Chili recipe, which I'm making tomorrow, might require a larger space, given the quantity of ingredients. I also bought several more tubes of my favorite toothpaste, which now yields a total of like 10 tubes of my favorite toothpaste (I can only use one brand, which I've used for years, farther back than I can even remember - Arm & Hammer Baking Soda & Peroxide - it has to be that specific one, no other will do!) which means I will have clean happy teeth for approximately the next 5 years., give or take! After decoration shopping, we will come home and clean, clean, clean. I re-organized my kitchen pantry this morning to make room for what Craig believes to be an excessive second crock pot. Tomorrow, Adam and his girlfriend Julie are coming over to watch the second-to-the-last Dexter episode of the season (which is going to be hair-raising!) and I'm serving two kinds of chili - Mary's Guiness one, and either a white chicken or red turkey one. Our tree will be up and so the apartment is going to smell like evergreen and chili - it will be cozy and wintery. This week I received my first Christmas gifts from a colleague - a bottle of Grey Goose and a bottle of Bailey's - so the booze cart is looking good in time for our holiday gathering in two weeks. So far, I've got an attendance of Erik and his wife Kate, Scott and Alison, possibly Alison's father (who lives in Woodside, Queens), and Adam and Julie (potentially Julie's roommate Emily, also). I'm hoping Amanda and Mark can make it, but all of my other Indiana native friends will have already traveled home at that point! I'm also going to invite Michelle and Al (we're traveling to Jersey to attend their holiday party next Saturday, likely crashing in Jersey because it's about a two-hour trip one way on the NJ Transit). I'm really, really, really excited to play hostess again. It is one of the most rewarding things to me - gathering friends together, tidying the place, cooking, cooking, cooking! I'm really enthusiastic about it! Off to shower for our day. Thank goodness a weekend has arrived, despite the fact that I will blink and it will be Monday morning again. Oh, well. Optimism now!