Old Friends

I was dreading the Thanksgiving weekend - not the holiday itself, I love the cooking, and eating, and hosting family - but all the work that would follow.  After the holiday, since we had a long weekend in Virginia, I had an equally long to-do list that included (in addition to a LOT of cleaning) gathering from various storage locations all of the holiday decorations, sorting, and putting them up at Glenlochan for the first time.  In theory that might sound fun, but since none of these boxes had been opened in 4 years and they had been in various storage places to varying degrees of temperatures for those said 4 years, it was a monumental chore to simply find them all, let alone, open sort, and then actually decorate.  I was tired before I started.  And, this was our last weekend in VA before the holidays, so it had to be complete when we walked out the door to go back to Philly.

Thanksgiving itself, as hoped, was absolutely wonderful.  We had a great dinner (most said, "best turkey ever" - thanks Josh!!) and it was small and manageable and very fun and restful.  That night, Rob and I headed to Richmond for an antiques auction (more on that later, but it might be a new Thanksgiving tradition!).  The next day, the fun began.

To my surprise, it actually WAS fun.  There were a few unpleasant surprises - the artificial tree that smelled pretty rank due to non-climate controlled storage conditions, the favorite lights that no longer worked - but overall, most everything else came through with flying colors and it was like greeting many old friends.  The fake and smelly tree was quickly disposed of - it had served our family well for over 10 years - and this year Glenlochan will boast a fresh tree, hand cut when we arrive back in VA.  Winding the new garland inside and out took a while:

 

 

 

I had forgotten how much I missed my Santas, truly wonderful old friends. 

Small trees are up - these did not smell and the lights still worked (but the shot leave much to be desired, very blurry)!

I am really looking forward to decorating the tree when we return.  There are several boxes of unopened ornaments, many handcrafted by the boys and others, and I cannot wait to greet those old friends, too.  Happy Holidays!