My father is an inveterate holiday Grinch, and has been for as long as I can remember. He's not a fan of large Christmas trees or decorating the house with lights, he grumps about the "mess" that occurs while putting up holiday decorations, I've literally never heard him sing along to a Christmas carol, and... other than Christmas cookies... he generally grumps about ALL things Christmas. We call him Grinch. Behind his back, AND to his face. To which he will grumble, "Bah, HUMBUG!"
(In retrospect, we clearly ought to be calling him Scrooge!)
It's not so much that he hates Christmas, but he's not a fan of change... and EVERYTHING about the house changed every Christmas as Mummy, a Christmas PRINCESS, rearranged the entire living room for the tree, swapped out the soaps and towels in the bathroom, the salt shakers and dishes in the dining room, the coffee table books, the tissue box covers... literally EVERY inch of the house had a glittery red and green substitute, just for Christmas!
There were 17 boxes in the basement, numbered and labeled, that needed to be hauled up, unboxed, and sprinkled about the house every December 1st. It took an entire week! Even after I moved away, I would go over to help her assemble her Christmas house... because it was never a one-day affair, and one person could have never put up all of her decorations.
Every December, us four girls would gleefully dance about the living room, tinsel garlands draped across our shoulders like the finest of feather boas, assembling the Christmas foofaraw and finding more and more creative ways to anchor the precious-yet-disintigrating artificial tree purchase the year she and Dad were married, while he sat grumping in his recliner watching Wheel of Fortune and insisting that we didn't need all that fluff. And TECHNICALLY he was right. We didn't NEED it. But it made Mummy happy, and that glee was contagious.
I am unapologetically a seasonal decorator. We have 13 bins in our shed; one for every month of the year, with two for Christmas! Our seasonal decorations change EVERY SINGLE MONTH... because we love the constant change and the seasonal happiness! My son is the lead decorator in our house, and Christmas is his absolute favorite. I've barely lifted a finger for our December decorating in nearly a decade, because he LOVES to decide where every individual figurine and bit of fluff will sit each year.
While sifting through photos last month, I found a few that made me laugh far more than they should have. Here is proof-positive that my grouchy Grinch/Scrooge father, DID love Christmas... once upon a looong time ago!
This post is for my nieces, who have dubbed Dad "Grumpy Grandpa." L and L... here is your Grumpy Grandpa, HAPPY about Christmas!!! See? He DID used to love Christmas, and he WASN'T always grumpy!
Enjoy all of the ornaments, sparkle, glitter, cookies, trees, and silly songs this Christmas! Auntie loves you!
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