... but they didn't steal my JOY!

Ever have one of those days?

I woke up with a mission to begin the Christmasification of the old homestead... 

First, I couldn't find  the little apron I made to camouflage my simmer pot last year....

I looked for more of that wrapping paper to make a new one, 

but there was none to be found...  

In fact, there wasn't a single snowman left in the wrapping box. I had to use this one.   I'm calling those stripes candy canes. Don't debate me.

Then, I made my Christmas simmer scent with too much clove and forgot the cinnamon completely. For the record, simmer spices without cinnamon just make the house smell like a baked ham.

Baked ham does not make you feel Christmasy;
 it just makes you feel a little queasy. 


It gets worse. 

I headed to my least favorite Superstore for a few groceries but ended up with an entire load of  magical cart leapers.

The lines were long and the cashier was grumpy.  Then, I pushed that cart up and down three rows before I remembered that I had parked Ebenezer clear across the lot at the other entrance. When I opened the back to load him up, an autumn plate abiding there for who knows what reason fell to the asphalt and shattered into 400 pieces.

When I picked it up, I cut my finger. 

I had absolutely nothing to sop up the bleeding except the Walmart receipt so I pressed it between my fingers and loaded with my one good hand. That's when I discovered a rebellious little pair of scissors which had tried to escape the store without going through the scanner.

I headed back inside and got back in line to pay for the scissors where I waited behind a woman who  can't count.  Bless her heart...

Done.

I headed to Hobby Lobby for exactly three items and came out with a bag in each hand and three rolls of wrapping paper tucked under my arm.

My keys were cowering as usual in the corner of my purse so I rested one bag on the trash can to better retrieve them. I still couldn't find them so I sat down on the bench next to it.

It was a wet bench. You just can't make this stuff up, folks.

I found my keys and took my wet tail to the car.  I headed home and unpacked the goods.

That's when I discovered that those three things I had headed to Hobby Lobby to get in the first place were located in that little bag.

You know the one... the one I had left sitting on top of the trashcan.

I sort of cried a little; I admit it,

 but The Practical One is an optimist. 

They'll be there, she said.

 I really didn't believe her, but she's a pushy optimist 

so off we went to Hobby Lobby.

I was a good thirty yards away from the store

 when I saw it. 

 Wooohooo!

I unbuckled right there and made like a Leaping Lord through the parking lot. I didn't care who saw me. I didn't care who saw me take this picture, either, 'cause I'm a blogger.

Yes indeed. I might have had a lousy day, but they didn't steal my JOY.

See?

'Cause this is what was in that bag.  

Waiting to be decopaged 

with this wrapping paper...

...to hang over my old pine table...

...which is where I put my nativity scene.

The one with the Dollar Tree Jesus.

But wait!

There's already a part two to Sunday's story

 about the Dollar Tree Jesus, 

but it will have to wait for another day.

Maybe tomorrow...

So how's your decorating going?