Decking the halls

As you saw earlier, I did my Christmas shopping over the weekend. Although I was glad to have my shopping done, there was something missing from my apartment, namely Christmas decorations!

So after work yesterday, my coworkers and I headed to Home Plus to liven up our Christmas spirit, and--because we're practical--to grab some groceries.

One of the spirit-warming items I was looking for at Home Plus was a literally warming one: a space heater. My apartment had been inexplicably cold for the last few weeks, and though I had cranked my floorboard heating, it didn't seem to do much. My friend Jay suggested that I check a light under my sink to see if my heater was working, so I put off buying the electric heat fan.

Instead, I got cereal, decorations, cereal, lights, cereal and a TREE! My tree is of the kind that Glee was referring to in their cover of O Christmas Tree: "Thy leaves are so unchanging". While I would prefer the smell and feel of a real tree, I look forward to returning to my apartment after Christmas and finding its leaves still unchanged, and packing it back in a box for another year.

Back home, I started to string up my lights and hang up my decorations. I also found a delightful stocking-stuffer package in my mailbox! Unfortunately, Santa ruined the surprise by listing the items on the customs declaration, so I opened it up and enjoyed some chocolate and deodorant. (Luckily I figured out which one was edible!)

I also remembered to check the light under my sink, which made my problem suddenly explicable by not being lit. Aha! My heat wasn't working! I called Jay back to take a look, and we headed down to the front desk for help. Luckily, we ran into the maintenance man in the elevator and he agreed to drop by.

I didn't quite believe this when it happened, but it's true: he fixed my heat by banging his hand several times on the gizmo under the sink. A few good hits and the indicator light popped on, and my frosty apartment started to thaw. Good old Korean maintenance techniques, I suppose.

Now that I had heat, chocolate and the Christmas album from Glee, I was ready to decorate in earnest. The lights went up around the tree and across the overhang in my apartment, the shiny impersonal baubles were arranged in slightly aesthetic arrangements, and the room was rearranged so the tree could move into the corner. It turns out that a phoney tree is a lot lighter and easier to move than a real tree.

When it was time to put presents under the tree, I Skyped my grandparents in East Sooke, who had emailed a few minutes prior, so I could share this with some family. And although it wasn't nearly the same as trimming the tree back home, I was quite content with my evening of decking the halls.