Christmas Tree 2023

Every year I think might be our last for a traditional tree, but I haven't been able to follow through on that. It's a hassle to get the boxes of ornaments down from the high storage shelves in the garage and a further hassle to carry them upstairs and unwrap them to put on the tree. But that is a trip down memory lane which I wouldn't really want to miss. I bought the wooden star on top at a long closed Scandanavian shop in Berkeley in one of the first Christmases after John and I got married. It is falling apart and I have glued and taped it together every year for years. I have even tried replacing it, but we have grown comfortable with this one and inevitably revert to it. It must be at least 60 years old. Each ornament has a story and I can remember most of them. This year the tree is smaller than in the past and I ran out of energy and opted not to put everything on it this year. We've never found the perfect place to put a tree in this house and Spike has run into it a few times during all the excitement of the last few days, but he's pretty aware of where it is and usually manages to avoid it.

It's been a blessedly quiet day today, leaving us to read the instructions for setting and controlling the heat pump thermostat and the 'console on the exercise bike. Neither one has been mastered, but both the bike and the heat are working fine. The latter has a thermostat that isn't too different from the old furnace one, but different enough that it will take a bit of time to master. 

My phone renders the functions on the bike redundant and has the added advantage of giving me something to listen to as I pedal away. Not quite as good as riding through the Alps on the Peloton, but it's only 20 minutes a day.

It's hard to believe that it was only five days ago that we noticed fiberglas bits floating out of all our furnace vents. There's still the rat abatement and all the possible repercussions from that (new attic insulation?) to get through, not to mention the possibility of getting a few more solar panels installed, but we have some breathing room before we have to look into that.

We're having the neighbors over for drinks tonight and I'm looking forward to relaxing and enjoying our warm house with them. No doubt they will have seen all the trucks in the driveway and wondered what was going on, but I'd rather talk about something else!