Tuesday, November 07, 2006

It's Almost That Time

Can you believe that in about a month 1/2, it will be Christmastime??? This year has flown by and I can't hardly believe it. It's just crazy how fast time flies, the older you get.

Last week, I stumbled upon some great buys at Home Center ... things to decorate your house for Christmas. They have some beautiful things for really great prices. And I'm talking BD3, BD4 and BD5 priced items. I love to decorate the house for Christmas and since most of the things I have, I've had for years and years and years, I decided to buy some new things to make the house more festive. I'm thinking of getting some garland to put along the banister on the stairs, but then if I do that, I'm gonna want lights to add to the mix, so not sure if that'll work since sockets are difficult to find in our house - meaning - we don't have a lot, so hooking lights up seems like it coud be a headache and turn into a play problem for the cats.

I've already started shopping for my family and will finish it up at the end of this month. I do it early so that I can get the box shipped to the States in time for Christmas. Shipping from Bahrain is soooooo dang expensive. To ship by regular mail is a joke, so we have to use either Fed Ex or the other service that's reliable or else the box won't make it. My mom once sent a box to me via mail and it took over 4 mths to get here. I've sent things via regular mail and some things never arrived... same w/ my mom. Once she sent me a whole envelope full of pictures and it never arrived. This is so aggravating, so I've opted for not using the postal service in this country... just too risky.

We have a really tall, fake Christmas tree that we put up every year. This year I want to put it up right after the American Thanksgiving, which is on November 24th, so that I can enjoy it for a good month before having to take it down. I LOVE to sit at night and watch the Christmas tree lights blink on and off.... twinkling to a rhythm all their own. It makes my heart happy and brings such a calm over me. There are a few other houses in our neighborhood that do Christmas trees.... it's a good feeling to share that w/ other ppl. A few of our Arab friends put up trees... and a few even celebrate Christmas, surprisingly. I wonder if they get the same joy from watching the lights?

Haven't started shopping for the hubby yet... will probably do that at the end of the month as well. In years past, I've been bad in that I wait until the last minute to get his presents bought and wrapped, and under the tree so that he can enjoy them. I wait until a week or so before Christmas to get it done, which isn't much fun, so this year I've made a pact w/ myself not to do this - I'll see if I can stick w/ it. But let me tell ya... if you think that's bad, that little bugger waits until the day before Christmas usually to do his shopping!! I wonder what he'll do when it's time to buy presents from Santa?? hehehe can't wait until the last minute then!

And since I'm on the topic of Christmas... it brings my thoughts to cooler weather. This month it's supposed to start getting colder in Bahrain. The rains will hopefully come this month, altho I don't see how it's possible since it's still hot outside, but I can dream, can't I?? :)

Last year, I wrote a poem about the New Year, the cold temps and such and it was published, surprisingly, in the States last year. So... for your reading enjoyment ;) here it is. Note: I wrote this one day while sitting at my desk at the office. It was freezing cold outside, the winds were blowing like crazy and the poem just sorta hit me w/ a gust...



New Year

A new year comes in on this crisp wind
that's charging off the Arabian Sea.
It sweeps across this desert oasis
like a windstorm filled with fury.
Each hair follicle stands erect and
salutes thy master for its crowning glory.
No one escapes as it rushes up to greet you
with a howling hello.
Your mind is carried away like
a gust of wind so fast
that you're frozen in time.
It caresses the soul with a chill
that's straight from Heaven.
"Hello New Year," the wind screams o'loud;
may the masses horde together,
warming themselves,
whilst wishing for a warmer day that will
allow us to play on the sandscapes
of yesteryear.


Happy day everyone :)

11 comments:

Christopher said...

Dearest Tooners...

I am FEARING for my life, for I have had to go into hiding due to my expose on my page about what REALLY happened for Ms. Bees Knees and halloween. There are more hits out on my head than Salman Rushdie for his "Satanic Versus.." I am begging you to send me a care package of the following items:

-Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean Vogue
-A Case of Grey Goose Vodka
-Fuzzy slippers
-M.A.C cosmetics
-Electronic staple and glue guns
-Crayons
-Magic Markers
-white out (in case I get bored and need to huff something for a buzz if I run out of Vodka)
-a book of mormon (to roll joints with)
Thanks to you so much!

Don't stress to much at all, you're going to be fine. You always have such a good outlook on everything. Get it out of your system and hold your chin up..everything is going to be alright...
much love
Kissyfur

Princess Ambiguous said...

yaya you put up a poem, and I love it! I'm sitting in my room between lectures and it's so cold I shivered, but it was more than the weather, it was a combination of reading your poem and being cold. (If that makes sense at all, I'm not feeling very articulate today I'm afraid)

As for the xmas tree, I love them!!! I keep the fairy lights up afterwards, even though I'm not supposed to, but they're so pretty! This year my family are planning to go Bahrain so it might be a familyless xmas which is sad :(

Anonymous said...

Oh Tooners, what a cute poem, it is so quaint!

Hey Christopher, my friends respect me as their official purchaser of Grey Goose, so count on me!

The Moody Minstrel said...

Yes, it's coming to the time of the year when it's perfectly okay to wax sentimental, romantic, and poetic. I always really like it (except for the commercialism...).

Of course, it's also a good time to get very homesick, as I'm sure you know well, Tooners.

Gaz said...

Tooners,i love xmass,when our kids were young (Caths 17 and Tracy's 16 now)i have always worked xmass eve,i made up a story one time that i heard a crash and then a vioce crying for help,so i drove round looking for the person that needed help,and couldent find him so i pulled over in my cab got out and saw Santa in his sleigh,stuck up in a tree,so i drove my cab over to him and helped him down,then he said to me"your names Gary,i wasent too good to you because youe werent a verry good kid....but you have 2 daughters named Catherine and Tracy and they will get special presents because of the good deed you have done my friend,...and this story got passed around to their friends and relatives and their kids so i was a bit of a ledgend round our way,the kids still remind me about it at xmass lol.(hears me ripping liars lol)

Um Naief said...

christopher, since olivia will get the grey goose, i'll get ya the MAC cosmetics, slippers, crayons and magic markers. couldn't find the book of mormom... no mormons in this part of the world! ;)

princess, i'm glad you liked the poem. this is one of my somewhat happy ones, altho i don't have many. you put up a tree!!! how wonderful. i love the fairy lights too. for the past few years, we've been putting red ones on our tree... i love the look of the red. so, you'll spend christmas alone? you won't come to bahrain for the holidays? do you enjoy christmas in the UK? you know, the one thing i like about bahrain is that their national day falls right after christmas but you get all the lights and decorations during the same timeframe, so it makes the island very festive. i do enjoy that and it brings a nice feeling to the season. i've also noticed more stores decorating for christmas. there are some that already have christmas trees out... can you believe it?! reminds me of the u.s.! ;)

olivia, you know, i'd put up some of my other poems, but i'm fearful that i'd freak ppl out! ;)

moody, the holidays can make you lonely and homesick. i feel that as it's getting closer to christmas. but i always try to cook big meals, which keeps me pretty busy on christmas, so it helps. i don't like all the commercialism either, but being away from that... i miss it. weird huh?

gazza27, I LOVE YOUR STORY!!!! how adorably sweet and creative! i can only imagine how your girls felt in hearing this. i used to stay up on xmas eve to watch the news (in the states), cuz they'd always have santa on the radar w/ a flashing light so you'd know where he was and how close he was to your house. my mom once told me that when she was a little girl that she was trying to go to sleep on xmas eve and heard sounds on the roof, so she got up and went to the window and saw santa on the roof taking off in his sleigh. i believed her and did like your kids and told my friends and such. i believed in santa for a long time... until this mean little boy at school told me that santa was my parents. i was devastated, but i still got presents from santa, altho it was never the same. i love the magic of christmas.

Anonymous said...

Why Tooners, are they too weird? ;)

Princess Ambiguous said...

My current fave fairy lights are clear ones with sequined silver snow flakes on them, they sparkle in such a pretty way! Although the tree doesn't feel quite right with multi coloured fairy lights all over it. I'll probably spend xmas with friends rather than family this year. I don't live in Bahrain anymore so I tend to go back when I get the chance. This year is my final year at university though so I won't have the chance to visit unfortunately.

I love xmas in the UK, I love it when the street lights go up, especially on Oxford st and the surrounding areas. The Thames also looks gorgeous at night with all the lights up.

All the tv adverts at the moment are xmas orientated! I used to work in a card shop and we got our stock in the middle of the summer! It took away the magic of xmas back then.

I hope you don't get too home sick this year!

Leilouta said...

Oh Charismas Christmas!!! I love almost everything about it except the crazy shopping and the huge amount of money spent on it. Like you I love the tree and house decorations. Can you believe that my husband and I were arguing last year about who would decorate the tree? It was soo funny, I had matched decorations ( red, silver etc) and my husband decided on buying some big blue and gold balls for it, saying it shouldn't look too perfect.

Leilouta said...

Congratulations, on your pregnancy. I am so happy to hear that and to hear that you are overjoyed. Mabrook Mabrook!!!! :) I will do what you did and not tell anybody about my pregnancy until I am at least 6 months pregnant.I can't wait to hear about your experiences with the pregnancy . Please share with us.

Um Naief said...

olivia, hmmm.. maybe not so much weird as manic, depressing, and out there. these are my fav poems, but a lot of ppl only like the happy stuff. i'm not one for writing happy poems really.

princess, not sure if i've seen these fairy lights you're speaking of... they sound gorgeous. they have some here that have strands, like icicles hanging down from them, but they're better suited for hanging from the house. we got multi-colored lights last year for the tree and i didn't think i'd like them, but i do. they're really pretty and they make all the ornaments sparkle nicely... it's really nice. i've never seen the UK during xmas. i can only imagine how beautiful it is there. i'd love to go there sometime just to see that. it's good that you'll have friends to share the holiday's with. bahrain's temps have fallen as of yesterday... it's weird how it happened all of a sudden, but very nice - but... soon enough the cool weather will really hit, so i'm so much looking forward to it and it'll make the holidays that more festive. :)

leilouta, you and your hubby are funny. so you like certain colors on your tree? i used to do that, but now we have a huge mix of different bulbs and ornaments. a few years back, me and my mother did some shopping at this store in texas, now i can't remember the name, but it had soooo many xmas supplies. i loaded up on ornaments. i love putting them on the tree. be sure to post a pic of your xmas tree... we'll put our tree up after thanksgiving and then i'll post a pic of it. and thanks for your congrats. :) so you'll wait too to tell? there are lots of ppl who do this but i'll say this... waiting six months takes a lot... there were so many times that i wanted to say something because there's SO much that you go thru being pregnant. :)