As I finished up our Christmas stockings,

Santa comes to see cats too! Their stockings mimic the big stockings. I just need to add the hanging loopy things.

I realized that they are much too “rustic” for the living room* and will look out of place. In addition to that, the fireplaces in the front room are all blocked up**. Blocked chimneys cause logistical problems for Santa. Not that Santa will be here this year, but I owe it to the guy to think ahead about things like that. Which is why I developed the Two Tree Plan.

I’ve got to have a tree in the living room, it’s on the front of the house, and looks pretty (decorations are just about the only thing Christmas has in its favor). I’ve also got to have a tree in the den with the real fireplace*** to facilitate present delivery. This year, we won’t have a live tree. Instead, we have a pre-lit artificial one for the living room that I spent an hour decorating with $20 worth of gold ornaments (to match the gold stuff stuck in the garlands on the mantles). William Henry spent 20 minutes decorating the floor around the tree with the ornaments from the lower limbs.

If it were real, he would climb right to the top.

Next year, the artificial tree will still be with us AND I can get a live tree for the den! That is two trees! This also means that there is no longer a time constraint on the Tree Skirt. I am awarding myself a point for forward thinking (next year I get two points because I will have two trees). William Henry gets a point for his mad floor decorating skills. Christmas still earns a point because I bought an artificial tree (and artificial wreaths for the front doors but that was totally due to frugality).

I get another point because I don’t have to travel anywhere for Christmas! Christmas has to come to me because I am big and fat****. HOHOHO. This does mean that a large chunk of the baking has to be finished early for the mail and Christmas has a great opportunity to screw me during Christmas Dinner Preparation but I’m going to think about that tomorrow. Today I am going to focus my energy on my Knitting Goal for 2007: 52 CounterPain Squares. I’ve only got 17 more to go! Even with fighting the good fight against Christmas and Michael’s family coming on Christmas Day, I feel like this is totally doable.

Especially since I have scrapped the Mommy Snug. My reasons for this are three-fold: 1) It fits closely and that means that I will probably hate wearing it. 2) I hate the sleeves and by the time I figure out how to fix them, it’ll be Too Late to get much good out of the sweater. 3) I think the yarn will look much better as a Hemlock Ring Blanket.

William Henry – 1 Emily – 6 Christmas – 4

*Despite my best efforts to make the front rooms of the house non-froo-froo it seems that a little froo is in my genes. It’s a quandary for nature vs. nurture.
**Six of the seven fireplaces in the house are fixed up for gas. None of these are actually connected to the gas line or to gas heating appliances.
***The one fireplace that might actually function as a fireplace is in the den. I haven’t called the inspector to see if it’s safe. As long as he doesn’t come and take a look, there is still the possibility of a fire.
****It’s the MiniMiracle’s fault. It has nothing to do with all the pie. More on that next post.