December 17, 2024 • 13 mins
As this week's episode goes live, I'm still waiting to hear if our festive front yard Christmas decorations were judged a winner or not! Oh the waiting is the hardest part! Tom Petty was a genius! Here about the night the community judges visited and woke up my neighbors!
There's also a personal celebration on the horizon—our upcoming wedding anniversary. While we reflect on these joyous milestones, we explore the art of balancing life's unpredictable moments with humor and grace. Whether it's the anticipation of the judges' visit or the heartwarming community votes, this episode offers a cozy blend of festive fun and heartfelt reflection that's sure to sprinkle some holiday spirit into your day. So, grab your favorite warm beverage and join me for an episode brimming with laughter, love, and a touch of holiday magic.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracy (00:00):
They're delicate like a butterfly's wings.
Welcome to the Only ChildDiaries podcast.
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life, that youdidn't get enough guidance about
major life issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
(00:23):
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better
navigate adulting, while doingso with humor and light.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries podcast.
(00:54):
Today I'm going to talk about myentry, our our family entry,
into the city's holidaydecorating contest and the
judging this past week.
It was quite fun, and then I'malso going to just mention our
upcoming wedding anniversary.
So if you've been listening thelast couple of weeks, you know
(01:15):
that I was intent on enteringour city's brand new well and I
guess it happened before.
It wasn't brand new, but theydidn't do it last year the
holiday decorating contest,where they put out a call for
residents and businesses todecorate and to enter the
holiday decorating contest orthe winter holiday decorating
(01:37):
contest, however that goes.
Anyway, knowing my preferencefor decorating the heck out of
our front yard for Halloween andfor Christmas, I was thrilled
and I did submit an entry, aphoto of our front yard.
Now, it's really hard tocapture everything in the front
(02:00):
yard in one photo, but I did thebest I could yard in one photo.
But I did the best I could andwe were entered.
They were going to take up to30 entries, but I think they
only got 17.
I think part of that is becauseit wasn't widely advertised.
I don't know, it was onlythrough a stroke of luck that I
(02:24):
found it myself.
Anyway, they have had votingonline for the community
favorite category, which wassupposed to end yesterday, but I
see that it's still up on theirwebsite, so I'm not sure when
that's going to end.
And then they have four othercategories and then the judging
(02:50):
was in person and that wassupposed to happen last week.
I think the days changed inprocess, but there were two
nights that they told me thevolunteers were going to come
out and they couldn't tell mewhich day.
So of course they came thesecond night, not the first.
I was on pins and needles onWednesday night because I wasn't
(03:15):
sure are they coming?
Is that them?
Are they here?
I didn't want to miss them.
They said that they would.
Well, they said you'll hear us,so I assumed that they would be
making a lot of noise.
But our TV room, our den, is inthe back of the house, so I was
a little nervous about missingthem.
(03:35):
Anyway, they came the secondnight and, as luck would have it
, bill and I had gone out in thefront.
The timeline was from 6 to 9 pmand so we had gone out in front
.
(03:59):
I wanted to turn on some of thesolar lights and some of the
battery-operated lights just tomake sure that everything was in
place, and we went to sit inour car because it was so cold.
We were sitting there lookingat the lights and I was kind of
making sure that everything wasin place and the judging crew
pulled up.
It consisted of a policecruiser or a police SUV I guess
(04:21):
it's the same thing, right.
Suv, I guess it's the samething, right.
Then a big van that wasdecorated for Christmas and then
another police SUV pulling up.
They slowly went by and thenthey kept going and I turned
around in the car.
I was sitting in the seat and Isaid to Bill they're still
(04:44):
going, they're not turning.
Well, of course it was hard forthem to turn around because
there were three of them, and Isaid well, maybe there's
somebody else up the street,because there's a big, there's
several blocks of street, thatgoes up in the mountains, the
hill above us, and there were noaddresses on any of the
(05:04):
properties that were pictured.
Anyway, they did, they turnedaround and they came back and
they parked and then peoplestarted pouring out of the
vehicles.
They were all dressed up withChristmas lights on their heads
and their necklaces and stuff,and over the police loudspeaker
(05:26):
I think it was a policeloudspeaker I said we're here
for the holiday decoratingcontest.
Woohoo, you know, and I live ina pretty quiet neighborhood,
even though it was 630 at night.
I was a little nervous aboutthat, but nobody else came out.
I don't know, maybe nobody elseheard us, but about 15 people
(05:48):
descended on our front lawn andthey asked a lot of questions.
They also asked a lot ofquestions about the tree, our
redwood tree.
Now I had done a whole episodetalking about the tree.
I know I talk about the redwoodtree at certain times.
And, yes, the tree, you knowthe tree is big, it always makes
(06:11):
an impression and I'vedecorated part of the tree with
big ornaments and so people wereasking about the tree, they
were asking about thedecorations.
They were asking about the tree.
They were asking about thedecorations.
They were asking about theinflatables they were asking
about.
Well, somebody came up and saidsomebody here has a green thumb
, commenting about all my plants.
There were people swarming allover the yard, all over the
(06:35):
porch, which was a little bitdecorated but still had some
stuff on it.
Luckily, I cleaned off all theempty boxes Okay, all the boxes
from the lights, all my extrachewy boxes that I've been
keeping things in, because I'msure they saw everything and all
(07:05):
my mistakes, anyway and theypresented me with an envelope
and they said it was just asmall token of their
appreciation.
It was a lovely certificate,just a lovely certificate.
I took a picture of it, butwith my scanning app, but it
doesn't really do justice to it.
(07:26):
It's beautiful and they're justso much fun.
They got back in to theirvehicles and then they said,
okay, thanks, tracy, over theloudspeaker Happy holidays,
merry Christmas.
And they all drove off.
So I had hoped that by now wewould have known the results of
the contest, but I still don'tknow the.
(07:47):
I still don't know.
Hopefully I will in the nextcouple of days or two.
Maybe I will tonight.
Anyway, the tree trimmer's outin front, of course, and the
city's tree trimming today.
And then the other thing thatwe're celebrating this week is
that tomorrow is our 14thwedding anniversary for Bill and
(08:13):
me.
We were married in 2010 in LasVegas.
We would normally go to LasVegas for our anniversary.
We've done that most of theyears, but this year we're not.
We haven't traveled in a whilebecause mostly because of Bubby,
our cat.
(08:34):
Besides being diabetic andneeding twice daily shots, he is
an asthmatic cat and he needsdaily medication for that.
I put a transdermal ointment onhis ear and he will let me give
(08:54):
him shots.
He'll also let his dad give hima shot, because Bill's pretty
adept at giving shots, beingdiabetic himself.
But it's pretty hard to findsomebody else to successfully
give Bubby a shot.
I'm committed to staying homewith my boy and taking care of
(09:15):
him, taking care of Brownie andenjoying my front yard
decorations.
I have to say that, even thoughI got everything up and the
lights up and the inflatables up, I got, I think, 10 poinsettia
plants.
They're still doing well.
They haven't dropped all theirleaves or flowers.
(09:35):
Pretty proud of that.
I mean, I have a green thumb,but poinsettias are pretty tough
because it's easy to overwaterthem or underwater them and
they're delicate like abutterfly's wings.
That's what I've found, and ourweather's been so cold and then
(09:58):
so dry and warm during the day,and they don't really like
either one of those temperatures.
Anyway, the poinsettias arestill alive and I'm proud of
that, but I've been able torefine some of the lighting that
(10:20):
I've done from previous yearsand I just think it looks great.
And I wish that Christmas wasmaybe an extra week away because
I'm so proud of what I've donethis year.
If I don't win in one of thecategories, that's okay, because
to me I'm already a winner.
Yeah, you got to just tellyourself that, but to me I'm
(10:41):
already a winner.
And I've spent so much time inthe front yard working on
manicuring the plants and tryingto keep the grass, or at least
part of the grass, from dying,trying to keep the hedges
growing with some water, becauseit's been really dry.
(11:01):
It's been really dry Trying tokeep the poinsettias up, trying
to keep the inflatables balanced.
That Saturday I went and workedin the backyard because I saw
there were some extra leavesfrom the oak tree the neighbor's
oak trees and before I knew itI had filled up one whole can
(11:25):
garbage can greens can of leaves, garbage can greens can of
leaves, and I was just thinking,you know, I don't really need
two greens cans anymore.
Well, that's yeah.
There's just so many, so manyleaves.
So I did kind of get thebackyard in shape because I've
(11:47):
been ignoring it.
So so we get closer to theholidays, what am I going to
talk about next week?
It's going to be more holidaystuff, but whatever you're doing
, whether you're enjoying theholidays or it's a stressful
time for you please take care ofyourself.
Please be good to yourself.
(12:08):
And yes, that's all I've gotfor today.
Next week we'll tackle anothertopic together.
I hope you'll join me.
If you like this episode,please follow the Only Child
Diaries podcast on ApplePodcasts or other platforms you
(12:29):
might listen on and considerrating Only Child Diaries
podcast on Apple Podcasts orother platforms you might listen
on and consider rating OnlyChild Diaries and writing a
review.
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page OnlyChild Diaries or Facebook Only
Child Diaries Podcast.
(12:49):
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace and these arethe Only Child Diaries.
They're delicate like a butterfly's wings.
Welcome to the Only ChildDiaries podcast.
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life, that youdidn't get enough guidance about
major life issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
(00:23):
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better
navigate adulting, while doingso with humor and light.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries podcast.
(00:54):
Today I'm going to talk about myentry, our our family entry,
into the city's holidaydecorating contest and the
judging this past week.
It was quite fun, and then I'malso going to just mention our
upcoming wedding anniversary.
So if you've been listening thelast couple of weeks, you know
(01:15):
that I was intent on enteringour city's brand new well and I
guess it happened before.
It wasn't brand new, but theydidn't do it last year the
holiday decorating contest,where they put out a call for
residents and businesses todecorate and to enter the
holiday decorating contest orthe winter holiday decorating
(01:37):
contest, however that goes.
Anyway, knowing my preferencefor decorating the heck out of
our front yard for Halloween andfor Christmas, I was thrilled
and I did submit an entry, aphoto of our front yard.
Now, it's really hard tocapture everything in the front
(02:00):
yard in one photo, but I did thebest I could yard in one photo.
But I did the best I could andwe were entered.
They were going to take up to30 entries, but I think they
only got 17.
I think part of that is becauseit wasn't widely advertised.
I don't know, it was onlythrough a stroke of luck that I
(02:24):
found it myself.
Anyway, they have had votingonline for the community
favorite category, which wassupposed to end yesterday, but I
see that it's still up on theirwebsite, so I'm not sure when
that's going to end.
And then they have four othercategories and then the judging
(02:50):
was in person and that wassupposed to happen last week.
I think the days changed inprocess, but there were two
nights that they told me thevolunteers were going to come
out and they couldn't tell mewhich day.
So of course they came thesecond night, not the first.
I was on pins and needles onWednesday night because I wasn't
(03:15):
sure are they coming?
Is that them?
Are they here?
I didn't want to miss them.
They said that they would.
Well, they said you'll hear us,so I assumed that they would be
making a lot of noise.
But our TV room, our den, is inthe back of the house, so I was
a little nervous about missingthem.
(03:35):
Anyway, they came the secondnight and, as luck would have it
, bill and I had gone out in thefront.
The timeline was from 6 to 9 pmand so we had gone out in front
.
(03:59):
I wanted to turn on some of thesolar lights and some of the
battery-operated lights just tomake sure that everything was in
place, and we went to sit inour car because it was so cold.
We were sitting there lookingat the lights and I was kind of
making sure that everything wasin place and the judging crew
pulled up.
It consisted of a policecruiser or a police SUV I guess
(04:21):
it's the same thing, right.
Suv, I guess it's the samething, right.
Then a big van that wasdecorated for Christmas and then
another police SUV pulling up.
They slowly went by and thenthey kept going and I turned
around in the car.
I was sitting in the seat and Isaid to Bill they're still
(04:44):
going, they're not turning.
Well, of course it was hard forthem to turn around because
there were three of them, and Isaid well, maybe there's
somebody else up the street,because there's a big, there's
several blocks of street, thatgoes up in the mountains, the
hill above us, and there were noaddresses on any of the
(05:04):
properties that were pictured.
Anyway, they did, they turnedaround and they came back and
they parked and then peoplestarted pouring out of the
vehicles.
They were all dressed up withChristmas lights on their heads
and their necklaces and stuff,and over the police loudspeaker
(05:26):
I think it was a policeloudspeaker I said we're here
for the holiday decoratingcontest.
Woohoo, you know, and I live ina pretty quiet neighborhood,
even though it was 630 at night.
I was a little nervous aboutthat, but nobody else came out.
I don't know, maybe nobody elseheard us, but about 15 people
(05:48):
descended on our front lawn andthey asked a lot of questions.
They also asked a lot ofquestions about the tree, our
redwood tree.
Now I had done a whole episodetalking about the tree.
I know I talk about the redwoodtree at certain times.
And, yes, the tree, you knowthe tree is big, it always makes
(06:11):
an impression and I'vedecorated part of the tree with
big ornaments and so people wereasking about the tree, they
were asking about thedecorations.
They were asking about the tree.
They were asking about thedecorations.
They were asking about theinflatables they were asking
about.
Well, somebody came up and saidsomebody here has a green thumb
, commenting about all my plants.
There were people swarming allover the yard, all over the
(06:35):
porch, which was a little bitdecorated but still had some
stuff on it.
Luckily, I cleaned off all theempty boxes Okay, all the boxes
from the lights, all my extrachewy boxes that I've been
keeping things in, because I'msure they saw everything and all
(07:05):
my mistakes, anyway and theypresented me with an envelope
and they said it was just asmall token of their
appreciation.
It was a lovely certificate,just a lovely certificate.
I took a picture of it, butwith my scanning app, but it
doesn't really do justice to it.
(07:26):
It's beautiful and they're justso much fun.
They got back in to theirvehicles and then they said,
okay, thanks, tracy, over theloudspeaker Happy holidays,
merry Christmas.
And they all drove off.
So I had hoped that by now wewould have known the results of
the contest, but I still don'tknow the.
(07:47):
I still don't know.
Hopefully I will in the nextcouple of days or two.
Maybe I will tonight.
Anyway, the tree trimmer's outin front, of course, and the
city's tree trimming today.
And then the other thing thatwe're celebrating this week is
that tomorrow is our 14thwedding anniversary for Bill and
(08:13):
me.
We were married in 2010 in LasVegas.
We would normally go to LasVegas for our anniversary.
We've done that most of theyears, but this year we're not.
We haven't traveled in a whilebecause mostly because of Bubby,
our cat.
(08:34):
Besides being diabetic andneeding twice daily shots, he is
an asthmatic cat and he needsdaily medication for that.
I put a transdermal ointment onhis ear and he will let me give
(08:54):
him shots.
He'll also let his dad give hima shot, because Bill's pretty
adept at giving shots, beingdiabetic himself.
But it's pretty hard to findsomebody else to successfully
give Bubby a shot.
I'm committed to staying homewith my boy and taking care of
(09:15):
him, taking care of Brownie andenjoying my front yard
decorations.
I have to say that, even thoughI got everything up and the
lights up and the inflatables up, I got, I think, 10 poinsettia
plants.
They're still doing well.
They haven't dropped all theirleaves or flowers.
(09:35):
Pretty proud of that.
I mean, I have a green thumb,but poinsettias are pretty tough
because it's easy to overwaterthem or underwater them and
they're delicate like abutterfly's wings.
That's what I've found, and ourweather's been so cold and then
(09:58):
so dry and warm during the day,and they don't really like
either one of those temperatures.
Anyway, the poinsettias arestill alive and I'm proud of
that, but I've been able torefine some of the lighting that
(10:20):
I've done from previous yearsand I just think it looks great.
And I wish that Christmas wasmaybe an extra week away because
I'm so proud of what I've donethis year.
If I don't win in one of thecategories, that's okay, because
to me I'm already a winner.
Yeah, you got to just tellyourself that, but to me I'm
(10:41):
already a winner.
And I've spent so much time inthe front yard working on
manicuring the plants and tryingto keep the grass, or at least
part of the grass, from dying,trying to keep the hedges
growing with some water, becauseit's been really dry.
(11:01):
It's been really dry Trying tokeep the poinsettias up, trying
to keep the inflatables balanced.
That Saturday I went and workedin the backyard because I saw
there were some extra leavesfrom the oak tree the neighbor's
oak trees and before I knew itI had filled up one whole can
(11:25):
garbage can greens can of leaves, garbage can greens can of
leaves, and I was just thinking,you know, I don't really need
two greens cans anymore.
Well, that's yeah.
There's just so many, so manyleaves.
So I did kind of get thebackyard in shape because I've
(11:47):
been ignoring it.
So so we get closer to theholidays, what am I going to
talk about next week?
It's going to be more holidaystuff, but whatever you're doing
, whether you're enjoying theholidays or it's a stressful
time for you please take care ofyourself.
Please be good to yourself.
(12:08):
And yes, that's all I've gotfor today.
Next week we'll tackle anothertopic together.
I hope you'll join me.
If you like this episode,please follow the Only Child
Diaries podcast on ApplePodcasts or other platforms you
(12:29):
might listen on and considerrating Only Child Diaries
podcast on Apple Podcasts orother platforms you might listen
on and consider rating OnlyChild Diaries and writing a
review.
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page OnlyChild Diaries or Facebook Only
Child Diaries Podcast.
(12:49):
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace and these arethe Only Child Diaries.
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