Oooh, what a birthday gift! There's a new book of Valdemar short stories out and there's a new Valdemar novel coming out...wait, it's already out! Funny, I haven't seen it... (Sadly the reviews don't look like much.)

As the mice say when approaching a piece of cheese, let's start from the top. :-) (Apologies to Rankin-Bass.) Well, first there was a nice late sleep, and then hot oatmeal. Then I went off in hunt of yellow nightlight bulbs and blue garland.

The blue garland I found at Garden Ridge—but boy has this place been scalped! (Not to mention getting depressing: they already have the spring stuff out. Ugh!) They had one small bookcase-sized rack with Christmas bulbs and all C-9s and that was it. But blue garland they had, and some candle ring wreaths for two doors downstairs, plus I found two decorative boxes. They had a box of $1.99 DVDs and in among the collection of cheap cartoons I found a Bob Hope USO show and also The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, which is corniness itself, but also 1960s nostalgia wrapped in a big bow (besides, it's Paul Tripp). (I also had a run of luck on DVDs at CD Warehouse; I found an inexpensive copy of Prince Caspian and also the DVD of the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular.) I also picked up a couple of things at JoAnn and then went to Lowes.

Lowes had a set of "gold" bulbs, which I figured would be too dark (and they were), but they should hold things until next year. I know someone sells yellow bulbs and I may find them yet. I also stocked up on suet for our voracious flock at the feeder.

But it was Borders that provided the real surprise: the new Valdemar short stories book and a DVD called The History of Christmas. It is actually four History Channel presentations: Christmas Unwrapped (which I had recorded), a documentary on Santa Claus (it may be the Biography of Santa Claus), something called It's a Wonderful Time to Be Weird (odd Christmas decorations and customs), and Christmas Tech.

When I got home I had some luscious leftover turkey thigh with some bread for lunch, put on the Radio City DVD, and then set about decorating the mantel. As I said, the "gold" lights are too dark, really orangy, but it's better than the white, which I felt was stark. If nothing else, I think Bronners sells actual yellow bulbs. I could always mail order them for next year. I also sat and watched The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, which comes with the original Italian titles, but is in English.

Anyway, I finished decorating downstairs (the lighthouse and some extra geegaws here and there). All that's left is the tree.

I forgot to mention that I have finally found my bench! I want a nice simple bench for the foyer, one you can sit on to put on a pair of shoes. All the benches I have seen were too fancy-shmancy with a price to match. Well, there is a nice, simple country-looking bench at Lowes for about $68. Best of all, it's on sale for 25 percent off! They also have a wooden plant stand that would be perfect for downstairs.

When the mailman came, more riches! My 40 percent off season 6 set of Make Room for Daddy had arrived, as well as the book The Christmases We Used to Know, published by Reminisce and containing stories from the magazine previous to 1996. I found it on e-Bay for a couple of dollars.

Labels: books, Christmas, decorating, shopping

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 5:42:00 PM

Comments:

Happy birthday, Linda! And thanks for the card! :D

# posted by  Emma : 11:24:00 PM

 

Post a Comment