We Survived December!

It has been over a month since my last Wander or Ponder post, which, ironically was titled Relax and Be Thankful. It is New Year's Eve and we have no plans to go out. Tonight's situation is an opportunity for relaxing for which I am very thankful. December was quite hectic, but I am still grateful for all that transpired; even the hard work part of it. The end justified the means. Hold on for a saga of the events to come - at least for some of the pre-Christmas happenings.

I belong to two quilt guilds, Diablo Valley Quilters and Amador Valley Quilters, and am on the board for AVQ. I also attend club meetings for the HandiQuilter long arm machine users, both the sit down and stand up type, held at a quilt shop about 30 miles north. I frequent my local quilt shop in downtown Livermore, too. Two guilds, one board, two clubs and one local quilt shop all held their holiday potlucks in the same week. Between December 6th and December 15th, I attended six holiday celebrations. I guess we quilters really party!

Starting out on December 6th was the brunch by the local quilt shop. It is a lot of fun since each table is decorated by a volunteer who puts in a lot of effort. Each table decor is unique, inventive, and inspiring. Here is the table I was at. The black glass goblets were topped off with paper white bulbs and a cookie. Behind tall flutes were filled with rounded jeweled stones and tall berry sprigs. The table was overlaid with a quilted tree skirt.

The place settings were layered with a lacy charger at the base, topped with a clear glass plate placed on a paper plate. The effect really looked like an expensive decoupaged set of dishes.

In the middle of quilting merriment Frank and I went to a SIRS (Sons in Retirement) Christmas dance on Thursday December 10th. Here we are cutting up the rug - er - the dance floor.

That weekend we also took Alex to his annual Friday through Sunday December 11th-13th Christmas themed camp weekend in Los Gatos, about a 60 mile trip.

The fly in the ointment amidst all this merriment was that on the morning of December 16th we would be cutting up the rug, literally. We were having hickory hardwood floors installed and needed to have the kitchen, nook, family room, and over-crammed closet under the stairs emptied before the installers arrived. On December 14th this is our family room. Cue music:

♫♩♬
Silent night, Holy night 

All is calm, all is bright.

On the morning of December 15th the wood arrived to acclimate temperature-wise and moisture-wise.

Then the cacophony throughout the remainder of the downstairs begins. Here is the once serene living room, whose Christmas decorations had been once artistically and lovingly displayed about. Frankly precisely placed a pole full of coats between two chairs. I tried to improve the situation by inserting a pad so the pole would not mar the chair backs and "Timber...!" it all toppled over. Frank and I looked at each other, instantly and unanimously agreeing, "Leave it that way."

On the other side of the living room there would be no accessing the fine china in the hutch or tweaking the garland carefully draped above. Emptying the under-stair closet in front had taken over that real estate.

The hallway between the living and dining rooms suffered a similar fate. At least we could still get in the bathroom without having to dash up stairs when nature called.

The biggest ruckus came from removing the floor in the kitchen and nook areas the morning of December 16th. Underneath some click-in-place tiles, a vinyl floor and its glued down underlayment had to be pried, chipped, sanded, and crowbarred off. We were totally unprepared for dust mitigation and the finely ground wood silt permeated everywhere!

We escaped a lot of the "noise, Noise, NOISE, NOISE", as the Grinch would say, by zotting off to the final day of a quilt show I'd wanted to see in the neighboring city of Pleasanton. They were very artsy wall hangings. Here is a sample of one that caught my eye.

The hickory installation crew was large though, and worked late, so the banging and hammering of the installation only lasted two full and very long days  – Wednesday and Thursday. We were glad to have them gone in such short order but as an unfortunate trade-off, they left the cleanup to us. Ugh! A TV cable also got cut in the process. We cleaned the floor and the first item I put out was the Christmas rug. We then added two chairs and a jury-rigged TV so Frank and I could watch the final concluding episode of his favorite TV series Haven, Thursday evening December 17th.

Starting the next morning, Friday December 18th, we would have to scurry because Dan, Carrie, and 20-month old Vivian would be flying up for Christmas arriving early Tuesday morning, December 22nd. The garage and the back deck are still disastrous hard-hat only areas but we will get to them in 2016.

Before the arrival of company, we squeezed in one more holiday party at Alex's home at St. Denis on Saturday afternoon December 19th. They always put out a fantastic spread. The long buffet table offered several main dish alternatives.

The dessert table was scrumptious, too. Singing Karaoke afterward was a blast!

Frank and I worked our butts off but we were ready, so to speak, for house guests. Upon arrival, here are Vivian and Dan exploring the arched bridge in our backyard.

We accompanied them on a walk around the neighborhood, too, that first day they were here.

The rest of the action during their visit is the topic of another post - or maybe two. That will be a great kickoff to Wander or Ponder in 2016! For now I am content to sit back while recuperating from partying, massive re-organization, and hosting. I am thankful that I can stay home on New Year's Eve. I will relax. Relax and Be Thankful. Yup, I like that mantra.