As you all know, because I’ve carried on about it ad nauseam, I have been working tirelessly to make this little lemon of home into a golden pear. It’s taken some doing, but this week I had my own little Christmas miracle in the form of Bruno Guerriero Construction Inc. Double emojoi hearts, and a huge namaste to this stellar crew. I am mustering all the light that shines in me, and am spraying it out in sparkling bursts of happiness onto YOU Bruno. My home is finally water tight, my wall is finally, well, a proper wall, with paint and everything. Hallelujah!

It was a whole three homes ago when I last had a Christmas tree and I miss it. The holiday season is one that I typically dread. It’s like the death march for me. Beginning in September with industry award season, it rolls right into Thanksgiving with a host of architectural open houses, and holiday galas that have me flitting around town every night of the week – and I mean every night – like I were Holly Golightly and it was my business to entertain – oh, it is my business. Any who, it can be exhausting, and I find myself just praying I’ll make it to Christmas day and can hide in my cozy bed all day after the presents are opened.

Not this year. I love the holidays and want to celebrate and decorate this festive season. I’ll hibernate January through March, but after all the work I did to get this zesty citrus twisted into shape, I sure as heck don’t want to deck it out, only to find holes and stripped paint patches left behind, so I embarked, in typical Falla – la – la – la fashion, on a research expedition on how to avoid just that. I found some simple, but pretty good recommendations that I am happy to share with you.

• Magnetic Wreath Hooks: great for adhering to metal objects or double them up on the inside and outside of a window to get that clean, floating wreath look,
• Command Hooks: you can purchase these inexpensive temporary hooks for use indoors or out. I even saw a really smart tip about leaving the tape in place for the following season – as long as its location isn’t somewhere visible to the eye – next year will be made that much easier,
• Binder Clips: while I’m not suggesting you raid your office supplies, I bet you’ve brought a handful or two of these home over the years and they come in handy when you are attempting to get the light placement on a garland just right,
• Glue Gun: Every now and then you need to take a little bit of a risk. I for one am not going to be placing anchors in the brick wall exterior on my home, so I’ll glue the lights around my door to the brick using a glue gun. Warning – monitor your own risk level before attempting – painted brick and/or stucco could lift off when you remove that lumpy glump of glue, post holiday. That is what we are attempting to avoid here.

Lots to do to get my place decorated for my holiday cocktail get together Tuesday, so I will sign off. Happy Holiday weekend.