Christmas at the Hoarder's home (or I live in a flea market)

I went to the basement to get our tree and decorations and just could not dig my way into the closet.  I  posted before that I am having a Scrooge like season, and having trouble getting in the right frame of mind for holiday events, so you might think this was just more of that, but there was literally a bookshelf and a ladder wedged in front of our storage door and a wall of crates inside after I opened the door.
We have been working on a little shop since September and it has become a huge project.  I never knew.
We were going to auctions before that and liked going...I love a bargain.  But our little townhouse is full up with stuff we haven't had time to price or tag.  Good stuff bought cheap but if we don't stop we will drown in it.
I told Jim I don't want to go to the auction until after Christmas at least.  We have been three times since then.  He is addicted to going and once I am there I just can't resist bidding.  Who wouldn't buy a flat of old English tea cups and saucers for a dollar?  I think I need a twelve step program!
Anyway,I started to move the crates until I could see that behind that was a stack of something else that wasn't Christmas.  
Many years ago, when Jim and I were dating, I bought him a tiny two foot tree, and decorated it.  He never bothered with a tree.  It has been on top of a bookshelf in the basement, fully decorated, for all this time.  So...
Our tree is up!   It is two feet tall and with one string of lights and some simple decorations supplemented by auction stuff that I could get to easily.  It was up in under 10 minutes, and it only took that long because I had to clear a space for it on top of the pedestals to a table we don't have room for yet in the shop.
It works for this year.

Merry Christmas!

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In the mood?

Last year, there were lights by now.
I think we have a problem Houston...

The neighbors are all lit up.

I'm usually done shopping before November ends.  Also not true this year.  I bought a couple things today, but it was an effort.

Would it be ok to not have a tree?  Or the mess that goes with putting it up, and uggggh - taking it down after?  I haven't the energy to think about it just now.

What would it be like to take a cruise instead?  Or go to a warm place?

My kid, or kids, if you count Megan, who I stole last year, are 19, and they don't get up Christmas morning, full of wide eyed delight at what Santa brought.  No.  They sleep 'til noon. They open things, and then trade, because whatever I give kid A, kid B likes that one better, and visa versa.

Shenandoah has asked me for cash this year, because what she really wants is a tattoo.   Really?  I have to help finance that?   Blech....

So.  I could just skip Christmas.

No cookies, no calories.....right?

Nah.
We will probably drag out all the stuff tomorrow.  Hope you and yours are getting a better start on this holiday than me and mine!  I will post my tree when (and if) I get it set up!   :)

Dreaming of the beach

I miss summer.

It's sad, because winter isn't even here yet, but it's getting cold, and the trees are bare.

A few weeks ago We were at the beach, just for a few days.  It was too cold to go in the water of course, but nice enough to walk a mile up and down it with our coffee in the morning, and sit in the sun, and dream of warmer days.  We looked for shells, sea glass and, out to sea, for dolphins, but found no treasures and saw not a single fin!  But looking is the thing, really, not the finding.

I was looking at pictures from that long weekend escape and they made me happy, so I thought I would share!

This is where we walked, right on the edge of the water.  The high rise hotels and the board walk off far enough not to be a distraction.  The shells, as you see, were small or broken...

We found this castle early in the morning.  The towers and sea shell shaped mound were pinker before the sun was up this high.  I especially liked the coffee stirrer banner poles on the high tower.  I wonder if the builders were watching us admire it from the hotels behind us.  They did a nice job, don't you think?
This last picture is me, with my coffee.  My hair is a mess, it was so windy.  Do I look like I care?  I need to go back to the beach....