Unexpected.....

At this time of year almost anyone who celebrates Christmas begins to put up some kinds of special decorations. We see a lot of the "usual"....wreaths, Santa Claus, colored lights in trees, ribbons, candy canes, poinsettias. All are touches of color that help cheer up the neighborhood as it turns from green trees to empty boughs for the winter.

Yesterday I drove a few miles north to visit my knee doctor for his magic cortisone shots. Entering his office I checked in and turned to sit in the waiting area. The Christmas decorations on his office countertop were just slightly unexpected....and yet perfectly appropriate.

I left his office about thirty minutes later already feeling a bit more bounce in my step and still amused by the holiday greeters in his office.

A Start....

Dave and I usually begin our Christmas decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. We don't use a lot of red and green in our "normal" decor so having the Santa collection out and touches of red throughout the apartment is just fun for a month. I did our "front" door first so that was my start. 

The holidays at Eastcastle are always fun and busy and it turns out this year there will be a "competition" between floors to see who can decorate the best. At our weekly Monday cocktail party the fourth floor decided to put a big bow on each front door so that the decorations would spread through the hallways. I offered to make bows because I love to do it so have been busy in Santa's workshop.

We've gathered decorations for the cocktail area just off our elevator and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Someone also  suggested that we "steal" the trees from the third floor. Maybe the Grinch will sneak around some night and do just that!

 

One Number.....

Another trip around the sun. Another year under my belt. All the phrases we use to describe the annual celebration of a birthday. I just hit 77 on November 24th and it was a nice day. We had lunch with Meg,, Mike and Zach at a new restaurant in Milwaukee then Dave and I went to the theater to see "School of Rock". The book store gift certificate from my son and family ended up making every present perfect. I don't want "stuff" any more.....just experiences or a gift card that supports something I like to do. I don't have to dust those!

But maybe one of the best parts of my day was the fact that I opened our mailbox here at Eastcastle to find lots of birthday cards. And every time I left the apartment I'd find more birthday wishes on the little shelf outside our door.

We have made so many nice friends since moving here....and what fun that so many of them took a moment to walk from their apartment to ours and leave me a birthday wish.

I tease that for the next year I only have to remember ONE number.....7. I do look in the mirror and wonder just how the years have passed so quickly, but it's nice to celebrate another year and look forward to more good times as I head toward 78.

:-) 

Another Dry Spell.....

It's not that my life has been especially "boring" since the end of October.....but to my dedicated friends who check out this blog, I've had zero "inspiration".

My daughter, the artist, talks about this time of year as sometimes being "fallow" and her creativity goes on pause. I'll follow her lead and just not let this "bother" me and figure that sooner or later I will come up with something amazingly important to ponder and share.

Or maybe not....