– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - Glad to offer a

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

It’s been over a year, since I purchased some sparkly orange and black tinsel garland to decorate the office porch railing, which I finally broke out, when I opened the Halloween totes. (We also had a bag of gold and black strands.) I didn’t get it put up last year, but this time, it was going out on the porch or bust!

However, I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Yes, I can do it on my own, but I don’t dare, because my little pal Warren, who I’ve spoken of before, would be so mad at me, if I tried to leave him out of it. It’s become kind of our thing to do it together.

So, since he’s now in first grade, I had to wait for an early release day, so Joy could bring him in for a couple hours. I approached our decorating with some trepidation, though (good word, huh?), as the last time we festooned the porch with tinsel, which happened to be for the 4th of July, it didn’t go well.

See, we tape down the beginning end of the garland, then wrap it over and under the railing, adding sections as we go. Well, I told Warren to wait on giving me a piece of tape, because I wasn’t ready for it.

Warren: “I’ll just tear one off for when you need it.”

Me: “No, wait, don’t. I’m not ready for it.” Warren: “I’ll go ahead and have it for you. Me. “No, wait, not yet. Just hold off.” Warren: “I did it. Oops, it stuck together.” Me: “THAT’S WHY I SAID WAIT!” Warren (folding hands and looking right at me): “You know, you get frustrated very fast.”

Like I said, I had some trepidation. I needn’t have bothered. Warren decided I should be the one to man the tape dispenser this time, thank goodness. It actually went pretty smoothly. I started the strands by taping them down, he wound them around the rail and I taped the end, repeating the process.

Um, Ninna (Aunt Ginna), I was wondering if I could have the ends you cut off, maybe leave more of them longer and I could take them? I told him I’d do one better, he could have a whole strand for his very own; of course, he was very excited and agreed to that plan enthusiastically. We stopped then and there, and he chose the longest (in his opinion), and fluffiest, strand.

Crazy kid loves those things, not just for the sparkle, but also for the touch sensation. He happily put the strand away and we continued on, until we ran out of the orange and black.

We then had a dilemma – stop right there and leave the railing unfinished (we had another section and a half to go); or use the gold and black, which didn’t match (as Warren pointed out, it looks more like it’s for New Year’s, than for Halloween).

I left the decision up to Warren, who weighed the pros and cons. I really wanted to decorate the posts, with a grimace, but we won’t have enough to do all of them. He finally decided to finish the railing and we would do just two posts, the middle ones, as it so happened.

As we went on, he asked me to take over on the west end, because his arms weren’t long enough to lean over the small metal table and pair of chairs on that end of the porch. While I was doing that and asked for another strand, he informed me that he really thought we should stop there and he could have the remaining three strands.

I reminded him we had a deal, that he already got his strand and we would finish the railing. He nobly offered that he could part with one more strand and keep just the other two, plus the one before. No, I told him, we had a deal and I held up my end, so hand them over.

Warren stared into the distance and handed me the strands with the air of a martyr, with an expression of “OK, if you can live with yourself.” Turns out, I can.

We finished that, he drug one of the chairs over and while I held onto him as he stood on it, he wound the last two strands on the porch posts. Then, we stepped back to admire our work, which Warren deemed as “pristine,” before heading inside. Joy, who had remained in the office to answer the phone, should it ring, asked if we were done.

Yes and I did it all by myself! I did a doubletake on that one. WHAT?! He maintained that he had single-handedly decorated the porch, while I kept exclaiming, WHAT?!, until he begrudgingly agreed that he had a “little” help. Gee, thanks.

As Joy was packing up to head home, Warren leaned into me and with little hands clasped under his chin, asked all starry-eyed, “Ninna, isn’t it beautiful, all shiny and sparkling?”

Me: “You mean the porch you did alllllllllll by yourself?”

Warren (with a sick smile): “Yep. That’s the one.”

Me: “Ah, I thought so. You know, that you did it allllllllll by yourself.”

Warren (with a strained smile): “I did have a little help.”

Me: “Oh, I see, a little help.” Warren (throwing up his hands): “Alright, I had MASSIVE help, OK?!”

See, that was all I wanted. Credit where credit is due. Before he left, we went over what tinsel I should order for the next holiday and for Christmas, choosing just the right shade of red, green, gold, etc., so we can again decorate the porch together.

Based on the last two experiences, putting out the Thanksgiving tinsel ought to be a real interesting affair.