The December Cold

No, I don't mean the temperature cold...I'm mean the sniffling and sneezing kind. Caroline started complaining of feeling bad on Thursday afternoon and on Friday I woke up with a runny nose. Caroline stayed home sick and we spent the day blowing our noses and watching movies. Our favorite of the day was "Mrs. Claus," a made-for-tv musical with Angela Landsbury. It was pretty silly...managed to work in women's suffrage, unions, exploitation of child labor, and the meaning of Christmas. Still, it was a good way to spend a cozy afternoon.

Today, we thought we'd better take advantage of the weather (cool and grey with rain coming in late, supposedly) and get our Christmas tree. We picked up Laura, my sister, and in one outing got a tiny table-top tree for our family room, a medium sized tree for Laura's tiny house, and an 8-foot tree for our living room. Plus, we got a gingerbread house kit and lots of cheap candy from the dollar store for decorating it.

Caroline and I got the tree up so Roger was surprised when he returned from school. Caroline spent hours making an aluminum foil chain to drape on the tree (giving it a sort of tough, metal look---but in a festive way) AND she was big enough this year to stand on the ladder alone and put the star on top.


It wouldn't be Christmast without Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosy on our mantlepiece...


The family room tableau. The little theater is showing "White Christmas" (it says so on the marquee), my favorite Christmas movie.


O Christmas Tree! Note the aluminim foil chain painstakingly made by Caroline.