I mentioned a couple of days ago I was tangled in Christmas lights. Well, I was still tangled in those things this afternoon. But I couldn’t put it off any longer. I needed to get the half-dozen boxes of ornaments out of the den. Tomorrow is our 9-year-old’s slumber party here.

Yet every time I unwound the lights from last year’s cardboard thing, only half of them worked. What do you do with half a string of lights? I had 20 minutes before I had to leave to go pick up the older kids at school; the two little ones were napping/playing upstairs.

I was so frustrated, I just threw the lights away and decided I’d buy new ones. Ever done that?

We stopped at a drug store on the way home, and I picked up two new strings of lights. The guy at the counter must have been in a good mood (maybe he felt sorry for me), but he said he’d give me $10 off my bill. So the new Christmas lights were free!

I got home and made a strong pot of coffee. My mood lifted. What is it about a 4 pm caffeine fix? I couldn’t live without it. The new lights went up easily, and my daughter turned on some Christmas music, so we were all listening to the Hallelujah chorus, decorating the tree together.

And I had to think of Busymom’s slogan: Better Parenting Through Coffee. Got me through the day, and our tree is up at last.

The best part of the day was receiving a Christmas card from the Philippines. YEA! (Sara, if you’re reading this, congratulations!!