Squeezing Myself under the Stairwell for Christmas

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Underneath the stairwell, in the farthest corner beyond arm's reach are the Christmas decorations for our home. If it were as simple as to open the broom closet and go underneath the stairs our nativity and our fake Christmas tree would be center stage in our living room, sparkling. In order to reach the Christmas decoration I have to remove the vacuum cleaner, the broom, two buckets, and a ton of things that do not have a home and yet find a home there.
It is daunting to put up Christmas.

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Even more so with the boxes of brocante stuff still scattered around the house from the last buying trip. Opening one of them I found a stash of holy cards. What is it with these little old paper things that make me stop in my tracks and put my good intentions on the burner? Sitting down with a cup of tea I admired their details while in the back of my mind I heard myself saying, "Corey you have got to get going Christmas is in a few days time, you do not have time to be lolly-gagging around." Instead of taking heed I hummed a few Christmas Carols and put a lid on my thoughts.

I work well under pressure, more so when it is self afflicted.

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French Husband rang, bringing me back to the real world with, "Corey it is going to snow."

"Snow?" I repeated, "Honey, how can it snow when the sky is blue?"

Then the strangest thing happened two seconds after I spoke to French Husband, the blue sky vanished and snowflakes started waltzing through the air.

Okay, maybe the holy cards and tea made it seem like two seconds…. but it wasn't more than a few minutes!

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Holy cow I did not plan on snow. Snow makes my tardiness a hazard. You
see tomorrow is Chelsea's 20th birthday… and she invited a couple
zillion people over for dinner and I gotta feeling I might not sleep
tonight or the next few nights for that matter.

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Sacha called. My boy-boy who loves Christmas decorations. He added flame underneath my seat, "Mom today after my last final I'll help you put up the tree…"

I guess squeezing under the stairwell is where you will find me. That is what I get for being the smallest person in the house… the joy of squeezing under the stairwell is mine!



Comments

22 responses to “Squeezing Myself under the Stairwell for Christmas”

  1. Happy birthday to Chelsea! Snow is the best present for a birthday!

  2. Happy Birthday Chelsea! Corey you are going to be, no, you ARE, one busy woman.

  3. Jeez. MY Christmas tree is under our stairwell too… also behind the vacuum cleaner and some paint brushes and pails. And I have only managed to put two… two Christmas decorations out.
    Merry Christmas and good luck with the par-tay.

  4. I love you my darling
    Merry Christmas
    Love Jeanne♥

  5. Votre fille a vingt ans
    que le temps passe vite, Madame,
    hier encore elle était si petite…
    Happy celebrations, Corey.

  6. I love to “hear” your accent when you write. Have you lived in France longer than you lived in the U.S.? I can hear it in your writing…so interesting and so cool!

  7. Are you going to sell holy cards? Let me know if you do!
    —————
    Hi Jackie
    Yes. I have them posted on my online shop
    Tongue in Cheek Antiques… click the top right hand corner where it says ONLINE SHOP.

  8. Corey, I’m sure your house will look festive and lovely and that the dinner party will be a great success.
    I have the same feelings when it’s time to get out our Christmas things. They’re high in a storage space with all our suitcases and other holiday decorations. I have to balance on a tall ladder and pull everything out in order to get to the Christmas boxes which have worked their way to the back. My first inclination is that we should just skip it, but once the decorations are up, it’s worth it.

  9. I had planned my last Xmas shopping yesterday and today… and it snowed all day yesterday, not much actually, only 5 or 6 cm – enough to put every single closest shop at an hour-drive from home !!!
    F(lipping) snow !!!

  10. Christmas, Birthday, Holy Cards, love it all. My new obsession, French Holy Cards. I only have one at the moment. Your home will be celebrating soon, how glorious.

  11. Memo to myself:
    Don’t drink tea while reading Tongue in Cheek! :-)))
    You had me in stitches today.
    Even my teenage daughter enjoyed your tale when I read it to her aloud (we are sitting here, side by side, each her own laptop – can you get any closer than that?!), and you know how teenagers never ever find anything funny that their mothers do or enjoy!
    I imagine you handing the box with the Christmas decorations over to Sascha (Look, Sascha, I herewith bestow on you the honor ….. !), and will have prepared for Chelsea’s feast by nightfall today.
    It has been snowing here all day yesterday and all morning. Of course, we are not in the South of France here, so no surprise. Still, I enjoy the view out my window, everything dusted white and I can vividly dream of a White Christmas now.
    May all you set out to do work like magic!

  12. Oh so much fun squeezing under the stairwell to bring out Christmas treasures. Have fun decorating. Happy Birthday to Chelsea!

  13. Julie Ann Evins

    Happy Birthday Chelsea, Happy Christmas to all of you, deck the halls with boughs of holly tra la la la..la la la la…stop that tea drinking & get decorating Coco ! x

  14. Lynn kept saying we were going to get caught in snow….we did have sleet on our faces in Avignon;) Hope you have better luck at getting decorated than I am. Cody arrives tonight. Tell Sascha hi and wish Chelsea a happy birthday. I miss you too!!!!

  15. Ellen Cassilly

    Birthday wishes to Chelsea. I’m sure that you house will look lovely and festive. We might have some snow here too. Warm hugs, E

  16. Kristin Wight

    I can totally relate. It is daunting! I still haven’t bought the tree! We are tonight, but it is rainy and windy, I doubt we will find the place open! If it would only drop 5 degrees! Then we can shop for trees in the snow!!!!

  17. What a fun place to be – digging through Christmas decorations! My birthday is December 19, and my mom always had the tree decorated for my party. Special memories you’re making for your children. I love your blog — it adds a little bit of France to my life every day. thank you!

  18. You always crack me up. I can just imagine you under the stair and rummaging through the Christmas stuff. Love the holy cards. I’ll check to see if you want to sell some later. Joyeaux Noel! -Delores

  19. You mean French Husband can also make it snow? Sigh. (Yes, but can he put up decorations?)

  20. Corey, I loved this so much I read it to my mother over the phone. You are such a wonderful writer, and I dearly love Holy Cards too. I have stashes of them all over because my cradle Catholic MIL gets them for me. At least she did before her mind became foggy. I found some the other day in the candle drawer.
    Merry almost Christmas. Just got my tree up last weekend.~~Dee

  21. Good luck with that Corey – I’m hoping to put up my tree today, I just need to keep my focus and build up some steam – how do I do that exactly??

  22. I love it when you post about your grown kids. I see myself as a mother to grown kids in about 12 or years…

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