For the past several years the kids and I have made paper snowflakes and posted them in the windows. We made some stringers of hanging stars out of pretty paper, and the snowflakes used really fancy oragami paper that I was supposed to actually use for oragami, but I never had the patience.
These snowflakes are starting to show their age though, and they will have to be remade or replaced soon.
We have never really decorated the outside of our house. I'm not anti-Christmas spirit. I've just always concentrated on the inside of my house. To be specific, I've decorated the living room. That's about it. Sometimes we put things up in the dining room, or the kitchen. Inevitably, I recognize that I've forgotten to put these decorations away some time around my birthday (March.)
So this year, I've gone the extra mile. I got gel clingy snowflakes in bright blue and white colors for the windows. We got lights for the outside of the house. Not many. There's a stringer around the eaves and some dangly stars by the front door, and some snow flakes on stakes in front. Why now? Well, I've found solar powered lights. I don't have to plug in, and my never-ending quest to lower our electricity bill is still on track.
Unfortunately, the world is fighting against me every step of the way.
The kittens discovered the gel cling snowflakes. We are finding pieces of clingy gel all over the house. I put the clings into the high upper panes of the windows--the ones you can't even see if you're looking at the outside of the house--and stretchy cats are reaching up and pulling them down. They are playing with the sticky snowflakes. They have discovered that these cute little floppy toys will stick to anything, and everything will stick to them. The kittens have lost many under the furniture, and as a consequence I have discovered that I really need to dust under my furniture I will probably find gel cling in their literbox for many weeks to come.
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| We're expecting the sod any minute now... |
Nature is doing her part by making sure we never see the sun. Did I mention that all of my lights are solar lights? To be completely fair, we get a pretty good charge on the solar panels for the hanging stars, they'll stay lit all night. Those came with a special note saying that the solar cell is so advanced, the lights will even charge on cloudy days (gotta love UV.) However, the same note wasn't included int the stringer that I bought for our eaves. Apparently, it uses older technology and a less advanced solar cell. We get about three to five hours of light out of the stringer. Seeing as we're averaging sixteen hours of darkness these days, it's not much.
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| See the stringer? See the grey skies? We'll get about three hours of light today. |
I can't wait until Christmas next year. I might be able to see my lights. In the meantime, the kids and I are going to cut out some paper snowflakes and watch the new sod turn rotten and brown in the cold weather.
Dear People's Gas- WHO THE HELL PUTS DOWN SOD IN DECEMBER??????
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| Thank Heavens for neighbors who don't mind big electric bills. |
