Kicking off the holidays in New Orleans!
The past week has been a blur! During the past seven days I've celebrated another birthday, enjoyed Thanksgiving with family in the Mississippi hills, went to New Orleans Saturday night for a birthday movie and walk around the city with our daughter and her boyfriend, decorated our Christmas tree Sunday morning with our daughter, then went to a christening for my cousin's daughter. We spent more time with family during the past seven days than we have in months! It was a great time.
When Ken asked what I wanted for my birthday, I chose going to the movies. Most of you probably think that's not a big deal, but it is in our house! We rarely go to the movies, maybe once a year. When I heard that the 3-D movie, "Life of Pi" was coming out I knew I wanted to see it. Always frugal, Ken and I don't exchange gifts for our birthdays and are happy with dinner at a restaurant. Instead of the usual dinner out, I opted for a trip to the movies with our daughter and her boyfriend.
We drove into New Orleans to watch the movie, which I must admit was just okay. While I enjoyed the movie, it wasn't anything that deserved a trip to the movies. I thought this would be a "must see" in 3-D (like Avatar), but it wasn't. This is a "rent it at home" movie, in my opinion. I did enjoy the story and its message (a boy stranded on a life boat with a tiger), but it was slow and a little too long. Watch it, but wait till it's on video.
Afterwards, we walked around the nearby city streets and enjoyed the Christmas decorations. There was a huge Christmas tree (above), lots of lights, and Christmas music playing overhead. This was just what I needed to get into the holiday spirit! I had not been looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season ... it came way too fast! However, after walking around on a beautiful, cool and crisp night with the music and the decorations ... I started getting into the spirit. By the time we left, I was no longer a scrooge and was actually looking forward to decorating our Christmas tree the next morning.
Ken pulled our artificial tree out of the attic, hung the lights, and then left my daughter and I to the decorating. I've always decorated the tree with our daughter, and I cherish this tradition. As we hang the ornaments, we're reminded of past Christmas celebrations. Our tree may not be full of perfectly matched ornaments, but each ornament holds a memory. To me, there's nothing more beautiful!
Our Christmas tree!
With all of this Christmas spirit, I got in the mood to tackle "Cyber Monday" yesterday. Between the recent jewelry show and internet shopping, I'm almost done Christmas shopping! Ken and I don't go overboard for Christmas, but we do buy a little something for each other to open on Christmas morning. We mainly focus on our daugher and her boyfriend, and get a little something for our parents too. That's about it! I tell ya, not going overboard and keeping Christmas simple makes for a much more pleasant (and less stressful) Christmas holiday. I'm ready to relax and enjoy it now!
Since my daughter has her own apartment, I gave her a few Christmas decorations. I tried to get her to take much more, but she just doesn't have the room. I'm ready to start purging for cruising! She did take the Christmas lights that decorated Nirvana last year. After lots of cursing and frustration last year, I'm passing on the lights this time. Poor Nirvana will be in the dark this season. But that's okay, we're certain she'll be celebrating next Christmas among many other sailboats somewhere!
Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!
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4 comments:
What a whirlwind week indeed. I don't go to the movies. I used to all the time, but just quit. It's so expensive and you really need to eat just before you go. To tempting to eat things that are expensive and not good for you.
I love your tree. It's awesome.
Have a terrific day. :)
Thanks for the heads up on The Life of Pi (I got all worked up about seeing it after reading about it in our TowBoat US magazine). I'll wait for the DVD. We, too, rarely go to the movies but we did go see Atlas Shrugged Part II (we have Part I on DVD) and for us it was a hugely powerful movie (it helps to know a bit about its background though). Hans liked it so much he even said the $25.00 parking ticket we got was worth it.
A lot of the boats here at our marina are decorating their boats with Christmas lights. What I love is that I can enjoy the holiday yet I don't have to do any of the work !!
And since your tree won't make it onto your boat when you move aboard, enjoy it now ;-)
Aren't the Holidays great? Hope you and Ken have GREAT days ahead!
I'm hoping this Spring we can meet up once Sundowner is sailable again.
Dani, we're looking forward to meeting ya'll!
Laura, I haven't heard of Atlas Shrugged .. we'll have to check it out. $25 ticket?! Glad the movie was worth it. =) We're enjoying the tree while we can, and can't wait to enjoy the decorated marinas!
Sandee, we agree. The movies and the snack prices are crazy! We like our tree too .. and it's artificial! =)
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