Day One, The Adventure Begins

And so, it begins...
Twas the night before the Christmas tree gig, and all through the house, not a creature was sleeping...especially, not Jess (okay, the cats were asleep).
It's 10:30 p.m, and she must arise at 4 am, but suddenly, all heck breaks lose, as emails are flying in, with all kinds of attachments, bearing photos of prototype Christmas trees...and they just keep on coming.

It's a time zone thing...the photos are coming from California, and Jess is in Texas..and she's getting tired of opening files, and printing, and printing, and printing...

There's every kind of "theme tree" imagined by "three angry, middle aged women" (that was my answer, when I asked who designed these trees. Okay, some were Martha Stewart trees, but I don't think Martha actually designed them..well, maybe.

I will "unveil" the different themes, as they are decorated...I didn't use a flash, because they are really ugly that way, but perhaps I should...hey, I'm the one who loves candlelight, remember (it does so much for aging complexions).

So, got to bed at midnight, and couldn't sleep (my cat, my nerves, my insomnia)...got up at 4 am, and packed everything into the car...drove 45 miles to pick up my first elf (did I mention I have two "elves", thank God)...you didn't think I was going to do 114 Christmas trees alone, did you...even Santa had elves...(I do have the tiny reindeer, though)
Picked up "J", and we drove to San Antonio, stopped for coffee, and bought the new, rereleased "Abby Road" cd...thank God, "Elf J" has a GPS system, or I would still be driving around San Antonio...(did you know it's the 4th largest city in the country?)...

Arrived at Macy's River Center (drove by the Alamo - remember?), and we met elf number 2 - "M" (I wouldn't use their names without their permission)...after running around, trying to get in, we went to work....

Here is the first tree, Which I did..."Western Tree" Second Tree - "Swell Noel" (hey, I don't name them) which J and I did...he did most of it...I think it should count as two trees, as we get paid by the tree...don't you?

J did "Santa's Picks", which is more like a merchandising rack, but a pretty one....

This is a close up of the "Cherub" tree, which is more like "The Christmas Tree From Hell", as the branches are very weak, and the ornaments are beautiful, but very heavy, so they either fell off, or dragged the branchs down to the ground..a little breakage here....

We finished River Center in great time, and headed for South Park, where we ate our lunch at the Food Court...I had my most embarrasing moment of my life (well, in many years)...I am on Atkins, and I love to put a bit of cream in Diet A&W Rootbeer..yum..anyway, I usually use a glass, but brought the bottles instead..Poor J was sitting there, and I was bragging on my "invention"...I poured the cream into the plastic bottle, and it ERUPTED...I thought, okay, it's just going to run over a bit, so I put my mouth over it....creamy rootbeer spurting everywhere; out of my mouth, my nose, (if it could have, it would have come out my ears)..all over the table, the floor, J, me...sheesh...I don't think J thinks I am very cool...oh well...moving on. One has to learn to laugh at oneself...doesn't one?

This is the Cherub Tree in South Park...a bit more heavily laden....

This is the Cherub Tree in River Center...very pretty, but we had a rack from which to display overstock..the other place didn't..people will buy off the tree...I don't even want to think about what it will look like as the stock goes down.

Here is my beautiful elf, M, showing off her Western Tree at South Park...she's adorible.

Here is my handsome elf, J, also adorable...(and thinks I'm a moron).

Dropped J off at his house in Austin, drove the extra 45 miles, at a bowl of stew, took a bath, and fell into bed..slept 12 hours...

Day off today...then, another, similar push..except this time: San Antonio again (it's 240 miles round trip from my house, and didn't make sense to turn around and drive home, when we have to be in Corpus Christi at 7 am the next day, so we have rooms - M lives in San Antonio, and J and I have rooms (separate, of course)...the thing is - 13 trees in one day in San Antonio, and 15 in Corpus...should be interesting....

Ho, Ho, Sheesh