So much better

Nope, I didn't feel the need to cry a little (over things that have changed or people who have left this plane forever) this year while decorating.

And it did make me feel a lot cheerier. I have my little tree up in the front window. I went heavily with the "idiosyncratic" or toy-themed ornaments this year - my little Snoopy ornaments (years back, Whitman's had a thing where they'd have tiny boxes with just a couple chocolates in them - four, maybe - and a Snoopy figure in some kind of holiday-themed pose on the top). And my four Ponies. (I have Fluttershy and Pinkie - thanks to Purlewe - and I found a Twilight and a Rainbow Dash in the shops here last year). And several little stuffed-toy ornaments I've acquired through the years.

I can't fit all the ornaments I have on the tree but that's okay. I keep saying I should buy a larger (like, 6') tree and just stand it on the floor (this one stands on a table) but fake trees are kind of expensive and I couldn't see any at the Lowe's I particularly liked. The tree I have now is just under 4' tall so when I stand it on a low table it's as tall as I am, which is good enough for me. It IS getting a little tatty as it's close to 20 years old now and I've hauled it from the apartment to here and stuffed it back in my storage closet every year. (I did have to replace the lights - it was not a pre-strung tree, fortunately - a year or so ago),

I put away the stuff that was cluttering that little table but I found my ITFF manatee in with it, so now he is under the tree with a couple teddy bears and the "spaghetti hair" Pinkie Pie-in-a-Santa-hat I bought last year.

I moved my singing Baby Groot to the piano along with the big Sapphire Shores dressable/brushable pony. 

I also have the lit garland over the window, and the Nativity set out, and the Christmas themed pillows on the sofa. After Thanksgiving I will change out the wreath on the door for a Christmas one - probably the same tinselly one I had last year unless I see a wreath I really love and want instead when I'm out.

I know I probably go overboard a little bit on it (especially considering I am not actually here for Christmas), but by this time of the semester I need a little brightness and happiness. And especially need it this year.

I broke down and put the heat on this morning - it was 68 in the house when I got up and with the beta blocker slowing down my heart I tend to get cold a bit easier. I set it on 70 which seems a reasonable compromise with a turtleneck and wool socks on. It clearly works as I've been smelling the toasted dust. That doesn't bother me because it tells me the furnace is working as it normally does.

Today, after I finish my Sunday school lesson and take some research data, I'm going to Sherman, going to hit the Five Below to see if they have Pony ornaments (online they advertise having Rarity and Princess Luna, neither of which I have) and to the JoAnn's and maybe out to lunch (my stomach is better, hooray - which makes me wonder if some of the issues are stress related). I might run to the natural foods store. I don't NEED groceries for the coming week (will stop at Kroger's on the way back home on Saturday) but I could get a few things ahead - and I need to get some unsweetened chocolate because I'm to make brownies for the pre-church-decorating lunch tomorrow.

I finished the first mitt for the AAUW gift and now I really kind of like them, the glitzy yarn was probably a good choice for these.

I can't find my copy of "The Happy Hooker" so will have to figure out another carry along project. I am considering just saying to myself, "just be careful where you leave it and take knitting" - I had thought of taking a crochet project because I know (I remember from my own childhood) how tempting it is for little kids to pull the needles out of knitting and unravel it.

I might take the almost-finished simple socks, and maybe the new scarf that I bought yarn for when Laura and I went to Stitches and Stuff in October. I feel the need for a nice, simple scarf. (I do need to finish the Hagrid scarf, but that's a more complex pattern, and I think I want something so simple I don't have to look at it.)