I rarely drink coffee but I’m drinking coffee right now. I’m not supposed to drink coffee but I needed something stronger than a cup of tea even if the coffee is decaf! (It’s not the caffeine I need but the bitter taste!)The Christmas season (or should I say the Christmas stress) has begun in our house. It started Thursday when I started my ‘spring cleaning’ in readiness for Christmas. I washed cross-stitch pieces, doilies, cushion covers, and quilts, and aired and vacuumed other quilts and pieces. I also hung our Christmas quilt on the wall. And that’s as far as I got. I plan on doing more next week on my day off (unless I've been 'committed' by then).
Today I decided I’d start my Christmas cards. I had what I thought was a simple idea: print the inside of our cards with a montage of family photos from the past 12 months. It would have been simple had I been home alone and been left to my own devices. But my IT Experts (aka Son#3 and Son#4) felt the need to offer advice.
Suddenly it was no longer simple. After doing a test-run and using over half a dozen cards Son#4 had opted out and Son#3 was coming close to having an ulcer. Son#3, after sharing his thoughts on my printer, set up his printer with his brother’s laptop and is now muttering threats regarding the fate of said laptop and printer in the near future.
The problem appears to be with the print quality. Personally I can’t see a problem but apparently when the photos are printed on a normal setting the lettering is blurred but when on a photo setting the photos are blurred. He wants both to be perfect: photos and lettering. For me it’s enough that they look nice. I mean, we’re talking about a piece of card approximately 16cm x 22.5cm which will likely end up in the rubbish bin on Boxing Day. How 'perfect' does it have to be?
My Christmas letter hasn’t fared a great deal better although I haven’t had a chance to print it out yet. Had Son#4 not edited it without my knowledge I may have been spared some stress but I doubt it (okay his editions were funny but still ...). At present the envelopes are all addressed but there's nothing to go in them. I hope by the end of the day there will be ... but I'm not holding my breath.
For a while the only one that escaped the maelstrom was DH as he was under the floor of the bathroom fixing one of the piles. For a time I even thought of joining him. However he's now offered to take Son#3 to work with him and to print the cards there (does he know what is ahead of him?). I can't help but wonder if there will be any cards left by the end of the day (if you don't receive yours in the mail you know why!).
Oh well, at least the Christmas tree is ordered and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. And then the stress can really begin!
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