Tillis Park Holiday Lights

After Dave’s departure, it was time to put Thanksgiving away and move on to the next holiday. In truth, we’ve been busy putting the leftovers away for some time now. They are almost gone. We repurposed all of the remaining turkey into a spicy Thai curry, but even that is nearly gone. Now I’m pawing through online recipes, looking for tasty ways to dispose of the disparate remaining ingredients still residing in the fridge. I hit upon a roasted broccoli and fennel soup recipe that should do quite nicely. It’s billed as not particularly kid friendly, but I’m the youngest person in the house now. So who cares?

Yesterday, we dove into Christmas with a vigor. Anne Cyber Monday shopped, while I put up the interior decorations. I bought an evergreen swag for the front door and cedar rope for the mantle. This year, in addition to mini LED lights around the dining and living room windows, I draped a third string back-and-forth in front of the fireplace. I overlaid these lights with garlands of gold and then covered everything with our substantial collection of Doris ornaments, with all the usual suspects. Finally, I covered the hearth flanking bookcase tops and stain glass windows with some of our plethora of Christmas memorabilia.

I didn’t get to the outside lights. I kind of ran out of steam and it was too cold out. Doing the outside is not all that much since years ago, I repurposed an old hanger queen of a bicycle. Setting it up is simply a matter of bungee tying it to the front porch iron railing and plugging it in. It would be nice if it was a little bit warmer out though.

In the evening, Anne and I headed over to Tillis Park to view the county’s holiday light display. On Mondays you walk the almost one mile loop, instead of creeping along in your heated car. It was nice. The cold seemed to have tamped down the crowds and we were both dressed for it. Thus ended a very long day. A day that had begun almost yesterday, at 3 AM.