The Coffee House

smoke665 · Jan 1, 2026

We're waiting till the weekend to put up decorations. Last night and today is all about the CFB playoffs!

Pre lighted tree for us. The availability of real trees in our area has decreased substantially. In previous years it was a nice chunk of revenue for us hauling trees from N GA, NC, and TN to points all over. We had large tree lots here, now there was just a scattering of small retail sales points. The Lions Club lot used to occupy a whole block, now it was just a few trees.

limr · Jan 1, 2026

My little potted tree will remain in my house until it's time to plant it in spring. I like twinkly lights so I will probably take the few ornaments off and leave the lights.

cgw · Jan 1, 2026

limr said:
My little potted tree will remain in my house until it's time to plant it in spring. I like twinkly lights so I will probably take the few ornaments off and leave the lights.

View attachment 293419

Finally went fake a few years back. Spent a few more $$$ for a convincing model. Fully trimmed it works for me. Relieved of the anxiety that accompanied the annual real tree hunt!

SquarePeg · Jan 1, 2026

limr said:
My little potted tree will remain in my house until it's time to plant it in spring. I like twinkly lights so I will probably take the few ornaments off and leave the lights.

View attachment 293419

Once I take all the Christmas decorations down, I do miss the twinkly lights the most. I’ve just added a strand of twinkle lights to my fiddle, leaf fig.

cgw · Jan 1, 2026

SquarePeg said:
Once I take all the Christmas decorations down, I do miss the twinkly lights the most. I’ve just added a strand of twinkle lights to my fiddle, leaf fig.

Yeah, they're fun. My kid festoons our place with a couple kms of little Costco AA-powered indoor string lights. Unsuccessfully lobbied to keep a few up in the basement offices. No dice, I'm told.

limr · Jan 1, 2026

cgw said:
Finally went fake a few years back. Spent a few more $$$ for a convincing model. Fully trimmed it works for me. Relieved of the anxiety that accompanied the annual real tree hunt!

It's just me and the kitties. Sometimes I feel like a larger tree and sometimes I don't, so it suits me to get small live trees or potted trees that I then get to plant. Plus, I can't be arsed to shlep a fake tree in and out of the attic every year. A small, cut tree just gets thrown into the woods behind my house when I am done with it and it returns to the earth

SquarePeg said:
Once I take all the Christmas decorations down, I do miss the twinkly lights the most. I’ve just added a strand of twinkle lights to my fiddle, leaf fig.

I strung some lights on the floating shelves I put up in my dining room, so I get to enjoy them all year round. I especially like them since they provide the very gentle, minimum lighting that I tend to prefer.

terri · Jan 1, 2026

Happy New Year, hosers!

We thought we'd relax today - after having to clear the driveway, sidewalk and deck of the NYE dump we had last night!

Then I cleaned up the bird bath (recently installed a plug-in style heater - they gather around it all day long; clearly they love it so much I feel guilty for holding out so long!), topped off the feeders - and then we decided to go ahead and take down the Yule season ornaments.

We had a tiny little live tree this year - 3' tall, hubby said likely the top of a bigger one, and we paid ten bucks for it. :lol:

Still held a whole string of tiny lights and several ornaments, and we had it on a table so the kitties could only love it from afar.

The living room and mantle look bare now! And our relaxing day went straight out the window.

No special dinner plans. My late FIL used to do the Southern style NYD spread with college football on all day - nostalgic! Whatever we have, it will be followed by the rest of the apple pie.

nerwin · Jan 2, 2026

Decided to pop in here and say that I'm still alive.

limr · Jan 2, 2026

nerwin said:
Decided to pop in here and say that I'm still alive.

Hey there, happy new year!

terri · Jan 2, 2026

nerwin said:
Decided to pop in here and say that I'm still alive.

Happy New Year!

VidThreeNorth · Jan 2, 2026

nerwin said:
Decided to pop in here and say that I'm still alive.

Happy New Year!

CherylL · Jan 2, 2026

NY eve took my set down and packed away all of the accessories. I have my boxes clearly labeled for what I may need next year. NY day packed up all the holiday decorations. Two days of moving was enough. Painted today a watercolor. I bought a book of preprinted store front scenes on watercolor paper.

jeffashman · Jan 2, 2026

nerwin said:
Decided to pop in here and say that I'm still alive.

Well howdy, there! Happy New Year!

jeffashman · Jan 2, 2026

Happy New Year, Folks! While the rest of y'all are freezing yer tuchus off, we've been in the 70's. It got up to 72F/22C today. The dogs loved, I had to work. Tonights dinner was deconstructed stuffed peppers. Ground lamb, green bell peppers, onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, and basmati rice. Hit the right spot and leftovers for the weekend.

Chatted with my brother and sister in the family chat. Lil' Sis' said she thinks 2026 will be a better year than last year. Lil' Brother said that the bar is pretty low, so it's doable. I replied that the bar is actually lying on the ground...