Julie Pippert: Using My Words

The other day I was looking at this gorgeous house. It was my ideal sort of house: sort of large and rambly, older but fully restored with the same character and time period architecture, a flowy floor plan but with a fair amount of openness, and lovely furnishings...just nice enough to be nice but not at all out of a catalog or showroom. Homey. Classy. Clean. Lovely. All of the sudden, with a hitch to my stomach, I thought, "I am just never, ever going to have a house like this." For a second, I mourned. I am never going to have a house like that because my husband is an architect and I am a writer, and we will likely never make That Amount of Money necessary. I am never going to have a house like that because my husband is an architect in the same way a doctor is a doctor and a plumber is a plumber: they do grand work for everyone except themselves. I am never going to have a house like that because I am Decoration and Flair challenged. I even once took a couple of courses ...

. . .A carpenter with a fair fee. Beginning today, I imagine most people will be madly engaged in celebrating Christmas in its various forms (Before, During, and After). At our house, we will honor and celebrate the season by decorating our house with Round Tuits. Have you ever received a Round Tuit at Christmas? I believe I got the first one ever in elementary school at an ornament exchange. One child brought a large red, breakable ball with silver glittery letters that proclaimed, "Round Tuit." Attached to the hook was a small tag that read, "Do you often say, 'I'll do it when I get a round tuit?' Here's your round tuit, so get cracking." You can imagine how much that thrilled me. However, the adults were greatly entertained and I quickly and willingly lost the round tuit to some grown-up. It became a family joke, though. And as I grew older I began to appreciate it, and how its important message was delivered with humor. So this Christmas---the f...