CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!

In a way, Christmas really DID come early for me this year!

First, I won a giveaway over at Pink Pig Blog. Take a look at Debbie’s wonderful blog and store. I’ve been following her for quite some time now: she’s located up in Westport, New York and carries a huge and varied line of products.

This is what I won:

These are from The Uptown Soap Company and are FABULOUS! I adore the scent and will most certainly buy more when these are gone. And the bonus here is that their graphics and packaging are unusual, artistic and almost too nice to break open..

That was all fine. But the BIG news of last week is that…ta da…drum roll….we are all moved! Yes, the moving truck showed up one week ago on a raw, rainy, snowy day. Isn’t that everyone’s worst nightmare? To have movers trekking through your house, wet feet everywhere, carrying your possessions out to the truck and packing them in there, still wet?

Here’s the inside of the enormous truck. We were about 30% of the total load. It’s been 25 years since we have moved…so this was a BIG EVENT.

And then, four days later, the truck and same driver arrived in North Carolina. Just our luck: the day was snowy, icy and rainy. Oh no! Not again… The driver had trouble finding locals who would even venture out to do this job, but we ended up, in the afternoon, with the MOST superb group of men who were so efficient, helpful, amusing and just plain nice.

This is what our “Southland” terrace looked like that morning. Hmmmm: not quite what we expected!

But by 2 PM the truck pulled up:

and we were off and running

thanks Lenny, thanks Rodney!

My one geranium that made the trip down at my feet in the car:

And then, of course, the fun began as we unpacked how many…has to be about two hundred boxes. Then the question of what to do with all those (flattened) boxes and packing material. I put an ad on CraigsList, “free”, Saturday night at 11 PM and by Sunday morning had ten responses. So, all the boxes are gone and so is every last piece of newsprint paper and bubble wrap!

But the “Christmas came early” part happened as I unpacked the kitchen boxes. It just amazed me that my things, every last one, arrived safe and sound. As I plunged into yet another box and saw my favorite vase, or that old blue casserole dish, it was as though they were new and I was unwrapping a present! “Oh yes, I remember you” or “Wow, my best serving platter”.