It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

We went to Home Depot yesterday to get our tree! (This has become our tradition.)

From that blog post:

“Three years ago my sister Leslie was visiting and we decided to decorate the tree with her (Leslie and I enjoy it much more than Chris does.)  We went to Home Depot for the tree, and as the man finished loading it on top of the car, Chris tried to tip him.  He backed away, wildly, saying loudly, “no thank you, sir!  no thank you!”  We realized that it must be against store policy and he must not have wanted to get in trouble, but joked about it for awhile, ultimately having the story end with the man yelling, very politely, “SCREW YOU SIR!”

Well.  Yesterday for the first time since we’ve moved here, that dear man wasn’t working.  Home Depot was a bit understaffed (the staff was great and polite and helpful, there just weren’t very many of them so we had to wait.)  And the funniest/worst part was at the end, after tying our car on the tree, the man went to shake Chris’s hand, and I could tell he thought Chris was going to tip him.  And of course Chris WASN’T because of our previous experience—in fact, we had come from a three  mile run and neither of us even had any cash!  We felt bad.

So who knows the deal: do you tip Home Depot employees?  Or did I misinterpret the man’s actions yesterday and he wasn’t hoping for a tip?  Did we just get a particularly virtuous employee that first time?

Nonetheless, our tree looks wonderful.  It’s huge and smells terrific.  We are just letting it settle for now and we will decorate later today and tomorrow. 

Since we now have a bit of railing to decorate, I picked up a nice “pre-lit” garland from Target.  Chris surprised me by putting it up while I was teaching the other day.

Kitty loves the tree skirt.  “Finally you put a soft blanket down in this corner!”

Have you been watching “Hobbit Week” on the Colbert Report?  We’ve been doing so obsessively.  In one week we will have already seen the movie (midnight showing, baby!).  I thought I’d reread it so I started the other night after I finished “Wings of the Divided.”  I’m more than a third way in so I’m ready for the first movie already 😉

Another toe picture.  The other week I bought these amazing black running/workout capris at Target.  I absolutely love them and would wear them all the time, but I hate to rewear pants after a workout, so I really only wear them once or twice a week.  I finally figured, hey, it would be smart of me to get another pair.  Of course they didn’t have them, but they did have a very similar pair in grey, so I bought those (sorry, Tyra!).  I noticed that they matched my big toe.  Gross and awesome, right?  And that baby is still attached.  I tried to make Chris tell me if he thought it would come off but he didn’t want to humor me and look at my toe too closely.  I guess I should try to maintain more mystique in our relationship?

Last but not least:  Tomorrow is our hilarious and ridiculous Metro Link “Concert.”  There is a great write up in the Post-Dispatch about the show.

edited to add:  The St Louis Beacon had a nice article about Chamber Project St Louis as well.

I promise I won’t use that graphic again, but not everybody reads everyday! 

So, should we have tried to tip at the Home Depot?  Personal experiences to share?