Another bright and sunny day in Anchorage has passed us by. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Supposedly, the aurora is very active these nights and with it being so clear, we should be able to see it. Unfortunately, I am never up in the middle of the night to watch it. I am hoping as the days grow shorter, the aurora comes out earlier. :) Speaking of short days, we had 7 hours and 27 minutes of daylight today. Sunrise was at 9:01 and sunset was at 4:28. The only ugly part about today was the cool temperatures (ranging from 1 degree to 14 degrees) combined with the wind. Wind speed was 35 mph today with gusts to 63 that makes the wind chill minus something. That makes for a cold and gravel in your face walk to the car. (Gravel from the roads after the snows.) Upside is the forecast for tonight is for minus something and bitterly cold tomorrow.
Speaking of bitterly cold, I forgot one of the "Alaska must haves". This is actually a really really nice to have. It is an automatic starter for the car. We now have a remote control where we can push a button and the car starts from our offices. That way when we remember to start it, by the time we get there, it is nice and warm...ok - it is not bitterly cold. Today it was actually toasty compared to outside. This little gizmo also starts the car if the engine block gets below a specific temperature thus eliminating the need for a engine block heater. When we initially purchased it, we wondered if it was a waste of money. Today was the deciding factor - money well spent!
Anyway - has anyone guessed what it's beginning to look like? Of course - CHRISTMAS!! Now, we arrived in mid September and had a couple of weeks of beautiful weather where you didn't have to add 30 minutes of bundle up time prior to going anywhere. However, once it turned colder, wind blowing and the occasional flake showing up, Christmas lights started coming out. We have been seeing Christmas lights, turned on for the holiday season since about mid-October. Then right after Halloween - almost the next day - here comes the yard ornaments and lights in the trees. I am one of those people who want the full enjoyment of the Christmas tree and decorations. They have to be up by the Sunday after Thanksgiving or I don't get the total enjoyment for the hours of work that goes into it. But I never considered turning the lights on prior to Thanksgiving. After asking around we found out it is much harder to put lights up with snow and ice on the ground than just cold weather. Makes sense. And hey - if they're up, might as well turn them on and get the maximum enjoyment out of the work - my kind of thinking.
Of course, I don't want to have the only house in the neighborhood without some decorations up prior to Thanksgiving and quite honestly I am afraid to put up the reindeer outside as I think they might fly away or at least move to another house without our permission. What to do - what to do?? We put the tree up this weekend. Thank goodness the lights still work on it after the move. (Yes - it is one of the pre-lighted kind - gets rid of some of the work.) Not a single ornament on it yet but then that might be considered a little tacky and premature! (I'll start after tonight's blog.)
The tree we have was absolutely perfect for the house in Houston. It is around 9 or 10 feet tall and fit in the curve next to the winding staircase in a beautiful manner plus you could use the staircase to decorate it if you were daring enough to lean over the side. Here, the only place we can put it is next to the front door in a corner. It almost blocks the stairs. I honestly think it is too tall for any other room in the house. It lights up the foyer very nicely. (And we just thought we were joking about it fitting in another house. The next house we buy may have to have a tall ceiling requirement.)
I just hope they can get the remodeling done without smacking the tree around. That starts tomorrow! I'll bet tomorrow's blog will be an interesting one.....
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