Day 54

So now that i'm over my selfish rantings about not having a weekend to myself...my poor mother in law is still without power in her town, and my cousins in another NH town are also still without power. Tomorrow will be a week! YIKES. Unfortunately, not much i can do to help. I can't very well bring kids up there so i can move tree limbs. THey've had to throw out food and go elsewhere to shower and sleep. Glad to know they are surviving, but wish they'd take me up on my offer to come down south. Not to mention that they are getting more snow on top of it all tonight.

I am seriously considering converting to judaism just to abolish this stinking sorry excuse for a xmas tree. I'm doing all of the preparations for my children, but even that seems like pulling teeth some times. We went to get the tree sunday and lorelei fell asleep in the car and ainslea would get out of the car to come inspect trees. I tried to find the smallest tree, but apparently that didn't help in my bargain hunting and i ended up with a tree bigger than i needed and more expensive than i wanted. I anticipated putting the tree in the bay window of the garage room for all to see, and to be out of the reach of little lorelei. But that required cutting more off the bottom. Which would be very easy if i had the cohones to start my chainsaw. However, feeling a slight attachment to all my limbs, i opted for a small handsaw. I couldn't find our axe and my biceps are not in their best shape...so that was a near impossible feat. I was halfway through, and decided to try to come up with a new plan. No one nearby was around to help, and with lorelei sleeping, i couldn't go anywhere. I had a right mind to go back down to the tree place and demand he cut more off my tree...but had visions of being "that woman" and decided against it. So after the floodgates opened and i realised i could do nothing else until finishing the cut, i rummaged around for a wedge and a hammer and knocked the shit out of it until the 6inch piece came off....if only that was the end of my story....nope! you guessed it....not enough off to fit in the bloody window. So now i have a tree that is too big for my window...and too freggin short for the floor.....so i gave up cleaned myself up and went to margo's christmas party. SOmeone else cooking was fine by me!!
We took the long way home to look at all the lights and after five minutes of Lorelei saying "coo-ul" to every house she fell asleep. But not for long, as the rest of the night would be a sleepless battle, that turned out to be the result of an ear infection.
So now its weds...I figured I probably should actually figure out what to do with the stoopid tree. I decided the only way it was going to recieve the holiday spirited attention that every tree deserves is to bring it back down the stairs and put it on the dining room table. Won't be having a feast of ginormous proportions at my house this year, as its my mother's turn. SO why not make use of a table to keep lorelei at bay? YUP, you guessed it...still too stinking big fo the table...out came the pruning shears and lobbed off the one branch at the top that was scraping against the ceiling. Lights are up...but after ainslea dropped a fragile ornament and it smashed on the floor, i paused the decorating for today.
I agreed to babysit another military mom's kids so she could go to the sandwich moms club holiday party tonight, and the kids had fun. They are asleep on my sofabed until she gets back. I really wasn't in the mood for any more ho ho holiday merriment, so i'm not feeling hard done by. Travis is safely in Iraq, and my kids are safe at home. I don't need to deal with formalities or spend money on drinks that i could have for free at home. Eight more days of holiday spirit and its over!!!!!