At this rate I might get the Christmas decorations up by New Year's Eve

[1gobluedem]

Had mice in the basement this fall and am approaching every box with trepidation and unpacking it before the stuff goes upstairs. So far, I've only discovered a nest in the lights box (remnants of my Christmas table runner, I fear; that's what it looks like) but I'm sure there's more destruction. Unpacked the tree in the outer hall; its box is shot from when the water heater shot its tap off last Chrismas so I think I'll buy a bag for it and pack everything that isn't already in plastic. This is way too much stress....

[Critters2]

1. SAdly, mice can chew through plastic.

At least, they can if that plastic container holds dog food. I know this firsthand. I know waaay too much about the habits of mice!!

[1gobluedem]

2. No dog food at my house

or cat food or bird food or any kind of animal food. I HOPE they won't chew through just to get to Christmas ornaments...

[davsand]

3. Frankly, if we didn't have a ten year old there wouldn't be a tree this year.

You can all me Scrooge if you want to but I just have ZERO holiday cheer this year. I have put up two trees for other people already, (my elderly parents and my neighbor a single mom who is facing neck surgery) and I just can't get terribly excited about putting my own up.

When i was putting up my parents' tree, I had a man on the roof mounting a couple of sat dishes, a washer sitting in the middle of the kitchen with a dryer that we could not hook up. The satellite TV guy comes running thru and says he was just in the crawl and there is a bunch of water down there because the sump is not working. Oh--and the damn tree topper refused to sit straight. I had to WIRE it on.

I just got done moving my parents and I have dragged and carried just about as many boxes as I can deal with. The tree goes up tonight, but you have to know it is a very real test of my resolve that it is happening. ALL I need now is to have a rodent come running out of the tree box!




Laura

[femmocrat]

4. We had mice in the basement too.

I have been putting decorations in those big plastic tubs for the past couple of years. This year, some of them were covered with mouse bait and mouse poo. Ugh.

I spent the entire weekend decorating and I am still not done. I said I would rather have a root-canal without novacaine than decorate for Christmas. The only thing more miserable is packing it all away in two weeks. I will be happy when one day I will no longer be "the Christmas House". Let someone else take it over already.

[1gobluedem]

5. Tree is up with lights on it

And the creche was spared from mouse activity, thank goodness. There's straw in it so I was very worried. I'm picking up more plastic storage tubs tomorrow. The ornaments are already packed in those so the stress is lessening.

I hate mice. At least I hate them in my basement.

[PassingFair]

6. That TEARS it!

I'm off my ASS.

I'm having my husband bring the "tree" up from the basement.

My 12 year old is out building a snowman with her friend,
we'll surprise her by having it up when she comes in.

I haven't been in the "mood" either. Too much death in
my world, and my 15 year old is about 7,000 miles away...

Thanks for the mental kick!

[yellowdogintexas]

7. well, our tree is up except for the little section that goes on top. The lights are

almost all on. Hopefully we can start getting ornaments on tomorrow evening. Moving really slow this year. I had 3 days off last week, but we dint' get the tree done because we had a tree stand crisis which eventually was resolved via some handy andy work from my husband.

It takes forever to get it up and decorated because we wrap the branches with the lights, alternating white with multi. It is a nice effect, looks like the lights are spiraling up the tree. And we have a ton of ornaments.

If my husband had not made it home I would have gotten out the small table top tree because I can't carry all the big stuff.

When I was growing up we never put our tree up before now anyway.

[1gobluedem]

8. That sounds lovely

This is actually early for my tree; my sister's AND SO's b-days are the 17th and it's nice to keep them separate (even though my sis is thousands of miles away and won't notice). But I was stuck in the house all day thanks to the snowstorm so it seemed like a good time to begin.

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Wanna borrow my Bah! Humbug! T shirt?

Helps me through the season.