Yesterday was unusually warm, plus we had very few things on our schedule, so the day was just perfect for hanging our outdoor holiday lights. I gathered these varied packages from the attic crawl space and carried them downstairs, thinking my next purchase needs to be a single large storage bin that holds all of these. We have purchased many more holiday lights in recent years, I think perhaps in response to the gloom and doom of the pandemic, and also because we have a little more time on our hands for decorating now that we are both retired. I placed all the bins right next to the front door, and went to fold a load of laundry, promising to join my husband with the outside decorations when this task was done.
A short while later, I stepped outside. Tony was working on the side porch, stringing lights along the banister, and there was a wild web of light strands on the front porch step. Hmm, I thought, where did that little pile of light chaos come from? I'll leave those for him and work with my new favorites, those easy "reel" lights. Last year we purchased some new lights that were packaged on a reel, making it very easy to wrap a shrub in holiday cheer by simply unwinding the container as you work, virtually eliminating tangles and knots in the wires.
Except, now I couldn't find them.
"Tony, where are the new lights we got last year? The ones on the reels?"
"They're right there, on the front steps."
"I don't see any reels here."
"Well I put those away after I took the lights off of them. The lights are right there at your feet - see?"
Wait, what?
Talk about flipping a switch.
"Wait -you TOOK THEM OFF THE REELS and MADE A RAT'S NEST FOR ME, so that I might have the THRILL of untangling them!?"
He looked at me patiently and calmly asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
"Well, goodness, I thought the whole point of those strands was their ease! You simply hold them and unwind them onto the tree as you go."
"Oops. Sorry. I didn't know."
"Aiyiyi."
Honestly, I am a little surprised how quickly my mood can change.
I was having a lovely day - and then I really wasn't.
I was SO ANNOYED.
I really dislike MAKE WORK.
I took a few deep breaths and set to work detangling those all-too-familiar webs of lights, reminding myself
what a little thing this is,
how good it is that we are working together out here,
this is such a beautiful warm day, and
the grandkids will be so excited by the lights.
Let. It. Go.
It took a few minutes, but soon I was back in the spirit, with just a few muttering musings crossing my mind - how do we so quickly wind up at cross purposes with one another?
Soon, all the lights were up, but several of our shrubs were still without any decorations. Wait, we decorated those shrubs with the new solar lights - because they are far removed from the outside outlet. We hadn't unpacked any solar lights yet...where were they?
"Tony, did we store the new solar lights someplace apart from all the others?"
"We might have. Let me check the garage."
"I'll recheck the attic."
There ensued about 30 minutes of searching, up and down the stairs, all around the house - the garage, the bike shed, the attic, the basement closets. Nothing. Na da. Gone.
This "fun decorating" was really turning into a very sour time. Where in the world were they hiding?
Time for another activity! I put on my gardening gloves, grabbed my shears, and started working in the garden. The remaining light of the afternoon would be spent with miscellaneous other outdoor chores. As the sun set, the few lights we did complete came on, making the house partially cheery (just like I felt). I put away all the gardening tools and went back inside. I turned on a lamp in the front room and saw two bins of solar lights sitting right there - at the front door - where I had set them before running my laundry.
Oh my! We went all around the house and yard, but never looked right inside the front door. Ha!
Our holiday lights will be completed when the stars align.
This was NOT the day!
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It's Tuesday and I am participating in the
Slice of Life.
