Pluggers by Rick McKee for August 11, 2022

at least it’s not the tree whose needles have accumulated around said tree on the floor

You may be a plugger if you still mail Christmas cards. I recall when my Christmas present from an uncle was a five dollar bill inside the card.

Mine is still up ! Only changes at Christmas when I send cards to those that sent them to me .

We have homes in our neighborhood that still have lights on the gutters, trees, and bushes. Or maybe they are just getting an early start.

If I am sending out Christmas cards now, should I date them 2021 or 2022?

i once left my Christmas tree up for 9 years

Y’all take em down?

Christmas is down by the New Year in my house.

Ours come down as soon as we get a card for the next holiday.

People send Christmas cards still ?

Some have been up for years. They’re purdy. So is the 10 year old postcard.

They have to make way for Valentine’s day…

Oh, you’re supposed to take them down after Christmas? I used to leave them up until the next batch started coming in. They reminded me of the many friends I have. Especially the far away ones I didn’t see often.

It’s take them down or dust them.

We tend to get the trees up close to Christmas – different reasons why in different years. Then after Christmas we did not want to take them down “yet”. So we decided to pick a day in January to start taking them down every year – we went with Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday as a good time to start taking everything down based on it falling mid January and acting as a reminder – though outside lights come down earlier or later depending on weather.

All trees are artificial. Large tree with general decorations in living room. Hand-beaded tree I made/decorated (about 9 inches tall) goes on coffee table in same. 3 foot tree – with all teddy bear related decorations – goes in the upstairs hall in the Teddy Bear village. Tree is up all year as it the tree in the center of the village and is decorated differently at many times of the year. 4 foot tree put in dining room on one of the pieces of furniture which has to be removed from living room to fit tree in same. This one has ornaments only from Colonial Williamsburg. 3 foot tree in our studio (behind/visible from kitchen) has only ornaments handmade by us in various media.

Then, husband bought a loom. By agreement the living room is his “loom room” from mid January to mid December, and then the loom stuff is stored away in our studio (which means limited walking areas in same) and gets decorated for Christmas for mid December to mid January.

Have I mentioned – I am Jewish? (He is not.)