Reindeer, Tiny Trees, and Holly Berries....Oh My!

On Sunday, Match, XouXou, SuperFan, JP, JP's mom, and I headed over to Granny B's house for the annual Christmas decorating extravaganza.

Of course you know there are stories to be told...

We have been partaking in this tradition for more years than I care to remember, so we have a pretty good handle on what goes where and how she likes it. The problem is, she doesn't always remember, so things that should take an hour, end up taking three as we remove and replace the same piece of tinsel fifteen times.

Part of me thinks it is just her way of keeping us there longer to spend more time with us...

Either way, this year, there was a little tiny blessing bestowed upon us. Right after we all arrived, Granny B had to run to Michael's to get batteries and ribbon. 

You see, Match and XouXou took her shopping prior to this event and they had purchased a roll of ribbon for bow-making, but when they got home she couldn't find her ribbon. She accused Match of taking it home with her, but that was not the case. So off to the craft store she went and into hyper-drive we went.

The goal: get as much decorated as possible before she returned.

So the adults started on the tree and us kids started on the front porch (aka the Enchanted Forest). 

Having done this for years and years, we had a good handle on what she would want it to look like, and if we got it finished and she just got to see the finished product she would be happy. Otherwise, she watches as you put it together and critiques every placement of ornament or tree.

Last year, Granny B decided to add holly berries to the big tree on the front porch, so JP and I got to work adding the berries. More on top. Even if you think there are enough, she'll want more.

By the time she arrived both tasks had been completed and we were working on nutcracker, Santa, and Nativity displays. 

She walks out front to see what we lovingly refer to as the Enchanted Forest and talks about how great it looks. Then she sees the holly berries in the tree and says something to the effect of, What are these doing here? I don't want those. I remind her that we put them in last year, but she doesn't want them so JP and I remove them and put them in a box to be returned to storage.

Then we begin placing tiny fake Christmas trees everywhere. Seriously, friends, every.where!

Picture courtesy of JP

Then, Match gets the bows put onto the new garlands and they hang one on the front door next to the Enchanted Forest. Once she closes the door and realizes that there is red in the garland, but no color in the large tree, she begins to ask for red bulbs. Much to her dismay, we do not have any red bulbs. So JP informs her that the only color accent we have is the holly berries she removed earlier. She reiterates that she does not want those.

Then not five minutes later, turns to SuperFan and says, Beeshk, go get those berries from the garage. And as you see in the bottom right picture, the holly berries were reintroduced to the Enchanted Forest as an invasive species.

But it is so nice for the reindeer.

One of my other favorite Christmas tasks is replacing all of the white candles in her house with red ones. So we are doing just that when I open a box of red candles and find a roll of ribbon. I hold it up to XouXou and ask, "is the ribbon she keeps accusing Match of stealing?" Xou confirms it is, so I walk up to Granny B and ask, "Is this the ribbon you've been looking for?"

She didn't even look at it, she just responded, "No!"

Then she looked at it and asked, "Where did you find it?" I told her that I found it in the box with the red candles so she begins to look at it a little closer; and then she looks at me and says, "I think you may be right."

I just made the Sign of the Cross and carried on replacing white candles with red.

Until next year, when we have all the same discussions again...