Thursday, December 15, 2011

To Grinch or Not to Grinch...

…that is the question.

My hubby worked in retail for many years and to say he was a Grinch is an understatement. He was in a district position which required him to be at various stores during the day so between the traffic and the craziness that surrounds malls during December, he was not amused. Add to that all the Christmas music that malls begin playing around, hmm, October, and Christmas was a dreaded event. If I put on one of my many, many Christmas CD’s, he grimaced and groaned in true Grinch form.

But the past couple years he’s been in a different career and I love the change in his mood. I love Christmas so it’s refreshing that he’s now getting into the spirit of the holiday. He even decorated the outside of the house without too much grimacing. But when I came home from a weekend trip, I had to laugh. In a special salute to his favorite Christmas show, he’d decorated my palm tree in true Whoville fashion. He was quite impressed with his handy work. But if he pulls out his Scooge shirt, we’re going to war.

Anybody else have a Grinch in the family or a good Grinch story to share?

12 comments:

chris keniston said...

I'm afraid I'm the grinch in this family- lol

I despise christmas music starting up in October - It was bad enough when it started before thanksgiving but to start before halloween is miserable for me -

I get my lists, shop, struggle, shop some more - lol - A few years ago we went to artifical tree - that's been a huge blessing - but the here comes the grinch - lol- it's a pre lit tree - no ornaments - it's pre lit - and the first year I hung all our ornaments on it - I didn't get them put away until some time in March - ever since - my hubby just puts it together - I plug it in - then mid january - I unplug it and hubby puts it away!! - lol

such an antethesis to one of my best friends who has 12 or 13 christmas trees of varying sizes scattered through out her home - including the bathroooms- lol.

Vicki Batman, sassy writer said...

Love your story pam. Thank you for sharing. Ox

Pamela Stone said...

Hi ladies and thanks for stopping by. Chris, you are so funny. It would be so nice if the department stores would not start with all the music, etc until December, but hey. I love putting up my tree and decorations and it is a production. But once the last gift is out from under that tree, down it comes. I mean, I've actually taken it down on Christmas night a couple times. At that point, I'm done, over it, ready to get my house back to normal. Most people leave their tree up through New Years, but not me. I'm like, it's a CHRISTMAS tree, not a New Years tree folks.

Kathy Ivan said...

Hi Pam

I'm one of those who leaves the tree up until New Year's Day. I'm not really sure why . . . I guess it's just something the family always did.

Love the photo, by the way. It really does strike that Grinch vibe. :-)

chris keniston said...

actually - my grandmother always left it up until after january 6th - the day the magi's came supposedly - so I do leave the tree up till at least then - but now that it's so easy to take apart and put away- timber!!! lol

of course - the next thing is getting my huband to actually put it away - this year the tree spent the entire year at the door to the attic - (throwing hands up in air) but - at least it's not in my living room!!! LOL

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Kathy. I think I'm the odd one here by taking my decorations down. Almost everyone leaves the tree up through New Years. I am usually off during the holidays and it's nice to get everything down and put away before I have to return to work. But that's just an excuse, I took it down even before I had a day job. So it's my personal quirky personality I suppose. Ha!

Juliet Burns said...

Being raised Catholic, our family traditions were a little different. From Thanksgiving weekend to Christmas Eve is a liturgical time called Advent. Advent is a time of waiting and preparing. We start with John the Baptist crying out, "Prepare Ye the Way!" and my choir used to sing that song from GodSpell every first Sunday of Advent. We light candles on our Advent wreath and prepare by going to a communal sacrament of Reconciliation (confession) Then somewhere around mid December our family would get our tree and start decorating. My mom would start baking and for about a week, we baked breads, and cookies of every kind and gave them to neighbors and family. The tree stayed up until the last Sunday of the Christmas season, which is called Epiphany--when the Maji came to see Jesus--which is January 8th this liturgical year, or next calendar year 2012. Hmm, Grinch's? MY daughter Natalie, but tell her I said so, she gets grouchy... :)

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Juliet. Lots of tradition, both religious and traditional I'm picking up on. We do lots of baking and also used to take baked items to neighbors and friends. I don't know my neighbors here. :-(

But we will take a goody plate to a couple friends in retirement homes next week.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing.

Anonymous said...

Growing up with 2 sisters & a brother meant sharing everything, including putting up the Christmas tree. As we got older, my dad would gaduate us from just putting on unbreakable ornament to breakable ones, then to putting on the garland & finally putting on the lights & everything else. In the process, of course, he was teaching us how to do it.

Well, once I was married, putting the lights on our tree would spark at least one argument between my husband and me. He had never been taught how to do it, but that didn't stop him from thinking he knew. And of course, I was the one who knew exactly how to do it. LOL Once the tree was up, the arguments would be forgotten and we'd get back to normal.

Long after the kids were gone, we bought our first pre-lit artifical tree & I'll never go back to any other kind! The holiday is much more pleasant now. In fact, he would be happy with just the lights, but I have to have ornaments on it.

We keep it up until mid-January just because he likes it. LOL

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Anonymous Jean. Ha, I know who you are even when you don't sign your name. Eveybody is making me think I need a new lighted tree. You should have heard my youngest griping about how much trouble my existing tree is. But it's big and full and pretty once it's done. Geesh, small price for beauty. Thaks for stoppin by.

Sylvia said...

I'm feeling kind of grinchy myself this year. Too much going on to have Christmas right now. Since we're going out of town, we didn't put up a tree. But last week I went and bought a little Norfolk Pine House plant, strung some lights on it and put the gifts around it. It's not much, but hey it's a tree. My husband put some of our Christmas decorations outside last weekend. He was afraid the neighbors would think we were atheists. Funny guy.

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Sylvia. Cute. I think we both married funny guys, but in a funny good sort of way. Have a safe trip.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and Merry Christmas to all!!!