Day Twenty-Six of the Adventure
Life in the construction zone has been chugging along nicely. We've been very impressed with the construction company throughout this process. The kids rush home from school each day to see what's been done. It's like coming home to a whole new house each evening! The past two weeks have been a little more disheartening as the dramatic progress has ground to a halt and the trades have been coming in to work out electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Very important, but not very exciting. Hopefully by the end of this week they'll have the groundwork laid so that Monday the construction crew can get back in and start putting up drywall in the new spaces! I have a feeling things will move quickly from there.
Today I met with the kitchen designer to finalize all of the cabinet colors and styles, hardware, and countertops. It's like picking jewelry for our house! The light fixtures and flooring we've ordered from various places are slowly arriving each day. We've spent months searching for these things, and I can't wait to see them all together in one place.
The kids have been holding out hope all along that the work would be done by Christmas. In part, we'd love to have our house back and be able to welcome friends and family in during the holiday season. More personally, with everything from the kitchen, dining room, closets, and hallways (the crew has had to work in almost every room of the house, it seems, to get duct work, wiring, and plumbing where it needs to be) crammed into the four or five remaining rooms in the house, there's no space anywhere to put a Christmas tree. They were devastated by the idea, and spent the first few weeks imagining every possible way a tree could be squeezed into our living space. We promised them that if the work was done before Christmas day we'd get a tree and decorate it, even if it was on Christmas Eve. If not, I joked that we could always set up the extension ladder in one of the rooms under construction, string it with lights, and put our gifts under it. And Micah promised they could choose any restaurant they wanted to eat out on Christmas Eve.
This afternoon we learned definitively that the work will not be finished before Christmas. I was dreading telling the kids. They've talked constantly about a last-minute tree and how hopeful they were that we would have a chance to really decorate and celebrate Christmas the traditional way. We broke the news to them over supper (which is always eaten on the living room floor off of paper plates these days). They completely surprised me.
Thomas: Yes! We get to do the ladder with lights after all! At least it'll be a memorable tree!
Henry: And we can eat anywhere we want!
Cora: And maybe hang this year's Christmas ornaments from the ladder.
I'm proud of them and how willing they've been to make this an adventure. Somehow a ladder strung with lights seems more fitting than an actual tree this year, anyway.
Today I met with the kitchen designer to finalize all of the cabinet colors and styles, hardware, and countertops. It's like picking jewelry for our house! The light fixtures and flooring we've ordered from various places are slowly arriving each day. We've spent months searching for these things, and I can't wait to see them all together in one place.
The kids have been holding out hope all along that the work would be done by Christmas. In part, we'd love to have our house back and be able to welcome friends and family in during the holiday season. More personally, with everything from the kitchen, dining room, closets, and hallways (the crew has had to work in almost every room of the house, it seems, to get duct work, wiring, and plumbing where it needs to be) crammed into the four or five remaining rooms in the house, there's no space anywhere to put a Christmas tree. They were devastated by the idea, and spent the first few weeks imagining every possible way a tree could be squeezed into our living space. We promised them that if the work was done before Christmas day we'd get a tree and decorate it, even if it was on Christmas Eve. If not, I joked that we could always set up the extension ladder in one of the rooms under construction, string it with lights, and put our gifts under it. And Micah promised they could choose any restaurant they wanted to eat out on Christmas Eve.
This afternoon we learned definitively that the work will not be finished before Christmas. I was dreading telling the kids. They've talked constantly about a last-minute tree and how hopeful they were that we would have a chance to really decorate and celebrate Christmas the traditional way. We broke the news to them over supper (which is always eaten on the living room floor off of paper plates these days). They completely surprised me.
Thomas: Yes! We get to do the ladder with lights after all! At least it'll be a memorable tree!
Henry: And we can eat anywhere we want!
Cora: And maybe hang this year's Christmas ornaments from the ladder.
I'm proud of them and how willing they've been to make this an adventure. Somehow a ladder strung with lights seems more fitting than an actual tree this year, anyway.
