In Need of Red...

My brother came out from the city today to help me with a lot of outdoor and indoor chores that require lifting, carrying or lugging...

We started working on the outdoor urns, our success limited by lack of flora, especially anything red! We were pretty much stuck with the greenery I had purchased, a couple of dead hydrangea blooms from the garden, and a few birch bark limbs from other years; not having had the chance to visit my daughter and forage around her place, we did what we could. It was a good start and I will go in search of things red another day to finish up. . 

It was a really busy day what with the chores here at the house, and some errands to pick up things too heavy for me deal with. Our final task of the day was to bring the Christmas tree up from the basement so it would be ready for me to decorate. .Did not happen.

By that time, I was totally exhausted; obviously I had overdone the day. To go from doing very little in a day to filling a day with that much activity was too much too soon. It did me in. 

Actually I was quite alarmed at how I could not cope with all that activity, at how weak my body is now and how I tire so easily. It was scary and depressing to think I had lost so much stamina and to realize just how far I still had to go toward recovery...I will know from now on to be more reasonable about what I can do in a day! 

So, lesson learned.

Surprisingly, my brother who does not normally offer advice, suggested that perhaps I had to accept that I just cannot go on as if everything is normal yet and that perhaps I should cut back on all this labour-intensive Christmas preparation - even the tree - just for this year? He had a good point - I do overdo the Christmas thing.  

I begrudgingly agreed to consider ways to simplify for "just this year"...but I cannot imagine giving up my tree!  Maybe I will just simplify the decorating of it and cut out other things instead? Like dressing up the urns in the back yard?