Christmas at work, Christmas at home

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at work. Yesterday the Christmas trees went up and names were drawn for the Secret Santa gift giving. I did not participate since I will not be in the office next week nor Monday and Tuesday of the following week. The reveal of Secret Santa’s happens at a luncheon on Wednesday the 13^th. That will be my first day back in the office since the 4^th of December. I did mention to the young ladies in my group that I generally would not participate because I am not comfortable buying gifts, no matter how trivial, for a woman I work with. And since the chances of drawing a man for my assignment was a low probability, I would rather sit out this game.

Besides, there is a well-known fact that one lady in the office will go completely overboard with the Secret Santa and whomever she draws will be flooded with little gifts throughout the days of the event. Everyone else is unremarkable by comparison. Of course, everyone hopes to be drawn by her, but only one will be. By Tuesday next week, it will be very obvious which name she drew. I already know who the lucky person is. Since I am not participating, I have been made keeper of the list – in case anyone forgets whose name they drew.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Mama and Victoria bought a couple of the Christmas lightshow things that I will need to set up to shine against the house. I hope they are not disappointed how it turns out but from my perspective, it is far better that stringing lights. I told Mama I would try to get that set up this weekend, but we first had to rake up and get rid of all the leaves that have accumulated around the house. That is a half-day project all by itself. Mama wants to leave selected piles of leaves in certain places because Sam loves to bury himself in those piles when the nights are really cold. I am not sure how that will work out because a pile in one area will not necessarily be confined to that area – depending on the force and direction of the wind. But we can give it a try.

I am hoping Mama and Victoria can work on the leaves while I work on the well house in the barn lot. Regardless, we will get done what we can get done and all the rest will wait until another time. I am getting pinched for time with the well house because several of the nights lately have left frost on the windshield. It will not be long before we are dealing with significant freezing. I am far enough along that I feel comfortable I can have the building finished before it does get cold enough to cause me problems. Lord willing. With darkness coming so early in the evening, I have limited time to work on projects that are remote from the house. Somehow these things always manage to work out.

This is the first year in a good while that I am looking forward to Christmas.