Kim's Top Ten

Isn't it the time of year for making lists? I'm not much of a list maker, but I want to change. So today, I'm going to share with you the Top Ten reasons why my Christmas decor is not put away.

This is as close as I've gotten to putting away my Christmas stuff so far.

Exhibit A: My family room table
I've managed to stack up all my Christmas plates, placemats and glasses. I did get my silverware put away. The mercury glass votive candle holders are packed away in the box. And I've taken down the hanging snowflakes from my chandelier. But the rest of my family room looks like Christmas! And my tree is still up.

Exhibit B: My living room dining table. Most of my living room Christmas decor has been moved to the table. I just need to get the boxes down from the attic & pack it away. And yup, my tree is still up in my living room as well.

My original goal was to have Christmas all packed up & put away this past weekend. But I failed. I'm not good at making goals and keeping them. I seem to get sidetracked too easily. That is why I never make New Years resolutions. I know I won't keep them. Did you make resolutions this time of year? If so, what are yours for the coming year?

I want to change. Really I do. But here are the reasons I didn't get it done. They are not in any order or importance, or what I liked the best. I put them in the order in which I was sidetracked.

1) We'll start with New Year's Eve. Who wants to put away Christmas decorations on New Year's Eve? Mike & I decided to go to the movies instead. You see, we rarely go to the movies as it costs money. Lucky for me, I have a friend who works at a movie theater & she occasionally gives us free tickets. Since it was the last day of December & the tickets were going to expire, we decided to see a movie.

I wanted to see Sherlock Holmes or It's Complicated. Mike wanted to see Avatar. I didn't. But since Sherlock Holmes & It's Complicated where special engagement movies we couldn't use our free tickets to see them. Avatar was the only movie we could see. So we went.

But I was wrong about Avatar. It was a great movie. I liked it. Definitely worth seeing. Now Mike wants to see it in Imax 3-D. Have you seen Avatar yet? Did you like it?

2) New Year's Day. Great day for taking down decorations. But instead, I decided to cook a ham dinner & invite Danica, Jase and Cade over for dinner. Eric and Jeannette had gone to Idaho to take Taylor up to school and left their other kids at home. So I invited them over for dinner.

It was like having Christmas dinner all over again. We had spiral cut ham with glaze, cheese potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, corn and the family green Thanksgiving/Christmas jello salad. And no, the above photo is not of our dinner. I forgot to take any photos of dinner or our company. I was too busy cooking and eating to think about photography. Can you believe that I forgot to take photos? And I have two blogs? Food can do that to me.

3) After dinner I turned on the TV & what was on, Pride and Prejudice. Now I had just bought this DVD for myself, for Christmas. And I had just watched it the week before. For the first time in my life, no less. Can you believe I had never seen this movie before Christmas? Me neither.

Well I loved it so much the first time I saw it, I had to watch it again. The Christmas stuff could just wait. Mr Darcy couldn't.

4) Saturday: When Danica was over for dinner on New Years she asked if I wanted to go shopping with her the next morning. Shopping!!!! I'm in!!!!
So we went shopping for most of the day. Got a cute apron & placemats at Kohl's for Valentine's Day. They have cupcakes on them! Found some Valentine plates at Target, as well as some Christmas stuff on clearance. Good thing I hadn't packed away my Christmas stuff yet. Ate at Chipotle's for the first time. It was OK, don't think I'll go back.

5) Saturday night: Guess what was on TV tonight? The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers. I guess the Fellowship of the Rings had been on the night before, but I was too busy watching Pride and Prejudice.
Don't you just love The Lord of the Rings? And can you believe that I never saw the final installment? Lucky for me, it's on Sunday.

6) Sunday: Today was the day I was going to get everything put away. I even told Jesse that he couldn't have his girlfriend over as I was going to be in the family room putting everything away.

And what did I do instead? I took a nap. But what a nap it was. I slept for most of the day. Isn't Sunday the day of rest?


7) The Return of the King. I had to watch. I'd never seen it before. And I'm in love with Aragorn!Wow, that was such a long movie. Over 4 hours on TV. Luckily it started early enough that I wouldn't miss my next distraction.

8) More TV: Desperate Housewives & Brothers and Sisters. I had to see who died when the plane crashed onto Wisteria Lane. And I had to see if Kitty was going to live or die. So much drama!!!

I'm glad it was Carl (sorry Carl). I like Orson. Sad for Lynette. I still love this show.

I'm glad Kitty made it. I like her. And I love Robert aka: Rob Lowe. He has the most gorgeous eyes. So that pretty much took up my entire weekend.

But I thought this was a top ten list. Kim, you've only listed eight reasons why your Christmas decor didn't get done.

Well, here it is Wednesday, so I should have been able to at least get a little done on Monday & Tuesday after I got home from work. Right? WRONG!!! Here are my last 2 reasons why my Christmas decor is still up.

9) The Bachelor. Did you know that the new season started Monday night? Did you watch? Isn't Jake a hottie? Can any man be that good looking & be that nice?
And did you know it's going to be The Bachelor's most dramatic season ever? Don't they say that every year? I guess I'll just have to watch to decide for myself.

10) And my top reason for not getting my Christmas decor packed away......THE TUDORS. My new obsession. I bought myself the first two seasons for Christmas. Don't you buy yourself Christmas gifts? I already watched the first two seasons the week between Christmas and New Year's. I wanted season three, but it costs more and I didn't want to spend the money. Lucky for me, Danica got season 3 for Christmas. She is letting me borrow it.

Last night I watched the first 5 episodes of season 3. I liked the first two seasons better. But then, I am a fan of Anne Boleyn. She was feisty. Jonathan Rhys Meyers makes a great King Henry VIII on this series. He is definitely worth watching. Tonight I will probably watch the last 5 episodes.

If you are a fan of this time period, this is a great TV series. But I have to warn you, it can be a bit racy. It's on Showtime, so there is nudity and sex scenes. And did they say the "F" word back in that time? It would probably be considered "R" rated, but I'm the black sheep in my family, so I watch stuff like this. Since I don't have Showtime, I have to wait until next year to see season 4 when it comes out on DVD. Boo hoo!!! Did I tell you I was impatient too? I have too many weaknesses.

All I can say is that I'm glad I didn't live during that time period. It was brutal. They make it seem all romantic. Even though I'm sure it really wasn't all that romantic to live during that time.

Well there you have my top ten reasons for my Christmas decor still being up. I did promise Mike that I'd have it put away by Valentine's Day. Wish me luck!!!