Moon, Stars and Beyond   A Chronicle of Fact, Fiction and Fantasy

I’m not going to lie.  This has been an awful year for me.  Annus horribilus.  I’m not sorry to see 2014 go; in fact, I’ll be personally booting it out the door come 11:59:59 on 12/31/14.  I can’t wait.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to go all Bah Humbug during the holidays, however.  In fact, as a result of this terrible year, I’m determined to finish it on a positive note, or even a humorous one.

Sometimes when the self-spirit’s lacking, one has to dig deep to find the certain stuff to pull it up and out.  Get that old smile back on the face.  Muster up some cheer.  To that end, I started with lights.  Dug out the old LED outdoor string and got to work putting them on the gutters for all to see.  Have a few strands of solar lights and stuck them on the bushes on the front lawn, since there’s no outlets there.  Already, the house looked much better.

We did notice a couple of our older strings weren’t working, so Andrew and I went over to Lowe’s and bought replacements.  Hanging in the aisle was this:

It’s a Chewbacca stocking.  Andrew walks over to it and says, “I don’t care how much it costs” and throws it into our basket, along with our new color icicle lights.

The next day, I’m in Target, wandering the aisles for a few last-minute gifts and holiday supplies.  I’m looking for Archer Farms Caramel Chocolate Popcorn mix when I happen upon this:

I say to myself, “I don’t care how much it costs” and toss it into the basket.  It’s truly horrible, but I don’t care.

We’re the sort of family that gets its tree a few days before Christmas, so that the holiday actually has some kind of special anticipation (as opposed to those who put theirs up right after Thanksgiving, a month before).  I went to the local farmers market.  They always have great trees at good prices.  Of course, they also have all sorts of other things that go along with holiday decorating too, so I saw this:

Oh boy.  This was hard.  Oh, these would look soooooooooo fantastic on the lawn, now, wouldn’t they?  A storm trooper with a candy cane?  R2D2 with a Santa cap?  I already had a holiday Yoda, but he looked kinda cute, almost determined to celebrate Christmas with great force.  One look at the price, though, and I wasn’t about to shell out $59.95 when the tree cost half that.  Sensibly, I moved on.

So the other day, my son wanted to go Christmas shopping.  Again, we’re back at Target and he spots these:

Oh, heck, they were only $10.00.  On clearance.  Such a bargain!  What better way to drink egg nog?  Of course, the bottom of the glass had the expected caveat:

NOT A TOY.  Well, it’s not like we go tossing these things around.  Who’d even think a glass is?

So here we are, putting nice things on tree.  It’s all sparkle and light.

Yoda fits in so well with all the other sparkly bits and such.  He’s so serene, stuck in the branches:

It’s as if he’s the keeper of the holiday spirit, beckoning joy and light, and be of good cheer.

So I will.

So should you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Festivus, Sassy Saturnalia, Kickin’ Kwanza, Happy New Year and all of that, to all of you.