Thursday, December 4

It has been another busy day. We were up by 7:30 a.m., and I did a treadmill and resistance workout right after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over, and we put the ornaments on the tree in the sun room. It takes two to three hours to put about 200 ornaments on that tree. But it's fun, because it's a walk down memory lane.

This eclectic batch of ornaments includes handmade ones, as well as keepsake ones. Anything and everything goes on this tree, like memento key chains from various trips around the United States. I've found that key chains make great ornaments, and they are much less expensive than regular Christmas tree ornaments.

I also put things like small breath mint tins from Rome, tea boxes from London, and a refrigerator magnet from Korea, given to us by friends and relatives who traveled to those places.

There's a sticky note pad shaped like a Santa boot, and four miniature children's books. And there are lots of ornaments that reflect our personal interests, like cars towing RVs, little cameras, gardening tools, birds, Shih Tzu dogs, patriotic ornaments, fishing themed ornaments, ornaments with our names on them, or ornaments given to us by our children that say "Mom" and "Dad," as well as a vast assortment of Santas, snowmen, toy soldiers, and even stuffed animals.

We finished tree trimming around lunch time. After that, Mother, who is nursing a head cold today, went home to rest for a while. At 3:30 p.m., we traveled to another town to eat at a favorite restaurant before touring that town's Christmas light displays, and going to a Living Nativity at one of the churches.

We were home by 9 p.m., tired, but happy.