I suppose some people decorate for the holidays all at once.  I’ve even seen, while looking through a magazine in the check-out line, that, apparently, some folks hire a “staging firm” to bring in a bunch of artificial stuff and deck the halls for them.  Well, at 1880, I tend to do a bit of decking one thing at a time, day by day.

Today, I cut some holly and hung it on the front door.  Looks nice.

What doesn’t look very nice is the brass mail slot which is in need of a good scrubbing and polishing.

But that would necessitate removing my bar code!!  I am a “managed service point.”  This is actually a great comfort to me and probably to others.  I am not accustomed to service or management at 1880. Turns out, while there is not an app for that, there is a bar code.

Guess I’ll just dust off the door and call it good.

But wait!  There’s more  .  .  .

My darling postman, Ricardo, moved the bar code to the porch post when he saw my dilemma and I polished the brass.  It looks great — but now I need to paint the door!

Many years ago I received a basket containing several small holiday plants — a tiny poinsettia, a sprig of holly, a white azalea, some greenery. After the holidays, I planted them all in my Bay Area garden.  The holly sprig survived and grew into a small bush.

After  few years, I cut it back, dug it up, put it into a burlap bag, brought to 1880, and planted it in front.  For several years, it pouted.  Then it decided, as I did, that here is good.    Now, fifteen Decembers later, it got it its first lights and ornaments.  Indeed, here is good.