Busy, Busy

I've had such a good day. I went over to the apartment building to see Max, then over to the post office to mail my Christmas cards. While in the area, I went over to Big Lots to pick up a couple of presents I'd been eying since the season started. I then had to stop by Sonic for a happy hour diet coke on my way home. I fed my critters, tidied up the kitchen, then sat down to wrap gifts. I wrapped Kloe's plus all our gift prizes for Saturday's party. How fun! I'm also excited about the new tree skirt my aunt gave me this year, which looks great under my tree. Maybel and Merlin seem to like it, too.

Lots Of Cereal

After Church today, Dave and I went grocery shopping at Kroger for all the items we're going to need for our family Christmas party Saturday. I think Kroger has some of the best prices in town for most of the stuff we need. Dave is planning to make a Chex Mix, and wouldn't ya know it...Chex cereals are on sale! In fact, a lot of different cereals are on sale, and Dave, being a big cereal eater, took the opportunity to stock up. In fact, he bought so much cereal that we jokingly campared him to Seinfeld.

Our New Tree

As much as I hated to part with the old one, I Knew it was time for a new tree. After a tearful farewell, Dave and I got in the truck and drove to Walmart, hoping to find another great deal. Sadly, there are no deals to be had until after Christmas, but even more sad, is the poor quality of this year's trees. All we saw were very sparse, plastic-y looking trees. I'm not a snob, but I do want a tree that I don't have to constantly fuss over to fill in holes. Needless to say, we didn't purchase one there. The trees at Hobby Lobby and Big Lots all had clear lights, and as I said in my last post, Dave and I are multi fans. Just as I was deciding to use our tree (minus the big bulbs) one more time, then see what we could find next year, we made one last stop at Sears. That's when I saw it. A beautiful, prelit tree, with large pine cone-shaped LED lights, which can be set to blink in a wide range of patterns and speeds. We purchased this beauty, and took it home to discover just how amazing it is. I've never, in all my 42 years, seen a tree this full. Each branch forks at the end, and fluffs out leaving no holes. You can place any sized ornament anywhere, and it looks great! I didn't even need any plain Christmas balls. I'm sure they would look great, but the large lights make them unnecessary. This left me free to use only my pretty stuff. I look forward to many years, and many memories with this tree...Provided the cats will allow it...(as I go to shoo Morty away from the tree)

Goodbye Old Tree :(

Well, today I had to say goodbye to mine and Dave's first Christmas tree. We were married in October of 2002, and since he didn't have a tree, we used my old four foot tree for our first Christmas together. We moved the coffee table in front of the fireplace, and set the tree up on that. It was at the end of it's rope, but with lots of branch bending, and careful placement of ornaments, we managed to fill in all the holes. What great memories...
After Christmas, we decided to take advantage of the sales, and buy our very own Christmas tree. I wanted multi-colored lights. Don't misunderstand me. I think clear lights are very pretty, and clean looking, but, too me, they lack the warmth I associate with childhood Christmases. Dave didn't have a preference at the time, but over the years, he's become a multi fan. We found this beautiful, 7.5 foot, prelit tree at, of all places, Walmart. We fell in love with it, because of the big bulbs strategically paced among the mini lights. This made the tree stand out from the rest...and even more amazing...it was 75% off!
So this has been our tree for the eight years we've been married. Last year, I could tell it was beginning to fail, because several strings of lights had gone out, leaving dark areas, but we were going to use this tree one last time. We had to discard the bottom portion because of a large Max-shaped dent, where he had climbed up a few branches and settled for a nap (Man, I still miss him so much). Being a 17 pound cat, he bent them beyond repair. So we set the coffee table in front of the fireplace, like we did that first Christmas, and assembled the top two portions of our tree. We took a string of lights to fill in the dark areas that had burned out. It wasn't perfect, but it was useable for one more year. Then something dreadful happened. We started screwing in the big bulbs only to discover that a whole string of them had burned out. Nothing we did could save the tree, because these particular strings cannot be found anymore. I had to cry a little, because I really loved this tree, but I'll never have to say good by to all the memories. I've included last year's picture of this tree in this post. Goodbye Old friend...

Oops! Now I Have To..

Last night the ladies of our church gathered for a little Christmas party. We had food, games, and prayer for us all. Our gift exchange was the game were you can either pick a gift or take away someone else's gift. My gift of a garden rock was taken away by my great aunt Bettie, so I had to pick another gift. I really had my eye on my aunt Gina's lovely tree ornament, a metal beauty, shaped like a bottlecap, with a picture of Santa painted on it. I started not to take it, because I've been so down I haven't even put up my tree, but I just couldn't resist the lure of a Santa ornament. So now I have to put up my tree so I can display my new treasure, and not feel bad for stealing it from my aunt. What a fun night we had.

Max, The Multi-Owner Cat

As most of you already know, we've located Max. He had been hanging around the back of the apartments since the week before Thanksgiving. As far as we knew, he was living the life of a homeless cat, because we thought he didn't know how to get around to the front door, or which apartment was his. We tried to call Sis JoAnne, but couldn't get though (we found out later that she'd been very sick, and wasn't getting out of bed or answering her phone). Max was scared of Dave and Me, so we were taking food for over to him everyday, and sitting with him while he ate it. I left a message on Sis JoAnne's machine that we were going to keep after him until we caught him. During this time, I got my hopes up so much, thinking he was going to come home with us. We had planned to feed him and talk to him everyday until he warmed up to us, then we'd capture him, and bring him home. I was thinking that maybe God just temporarily removed him from my home until things calmed down, and now He was giving him back to me. I didn't realize how much I was counting on this until I got a phone call that knocked the wind out of me...

Sis JoAnne called my cell phone the day before I was planning to go get him. She apologized for not getting back to me sooner, then told me what had been going on with Max. She had seen him out there, and coaxed him around to the front door, using Peace (her Siamese cat) as a lure. Ever since then, he knows that all he has to do to get inside is to pop the screen, and she lets him in. After his adventure, he'll never be happy as an indoor only cat, so when he wants outside, she lets him (which is what we were going to do if we got him back). She went on to tell me that not only has he found his way home, but he seems to have charmed his way into a second home. Apparantly there's a little boy living in the apartment complex who had wanted a cat so much he prayed that God would send him one. When he opened his door to see Max sitting there, he became convinced Max was the cat God had sent him. Not only that, but he seems to have charmed his way into several hearts, and stops by several homes to eat, and recieve pettings and attention.

Then there's me, the still grieving previous owner, who just can't seem to let him go. Even though I know he's not homeless, I still can't seem to stop going over to the apartments with a can of food, and some pettings. I didn't realize how high I had gotten my hopes up. I just knew God was giving him back to me, and finding out that's not the case has plummeted me to an all time low. I know it makes no sense, but I just want him back so bad. Everything I do reminds me of him, and how much he should be here. Everything I share with my cats, he should share, too. I still cry when I take out five feeding bowls instead of six. It's like my family is incomplete.

Please, forgive me if I don't post to my blog for long periods of time. I'm in so much pain, and I don't have the energy to put on a happy tone and write. I haven't put up my tree, wrapped any gifts, or sent cards. I just can't find any joy in any of the things I used to love. Please don't judge me too harshly. Believe me I've already punished myself more than anybody else ever could.

Forgive Me

I know it's been a few days since I've written, and I really want to write, but I'm very emotional, confused, and can't seem to express myself. I even know what I want to write about, and can't seem to make myself do it. Maybe I just need a little more time...