Fa, La, La, La, LAH, La,La....La.....LAH!

And a Hail and Hearty good morning to you all!
OK, that's my Christmas cheer. 
Soak it up!
No, I'm not Dickens's foil, but the Holiday Spirit dwells within me at a less then affluent position.  It's all about the kiddo's.  Some relief has been afforded us as the current contract on our house, while still pending inspection, has at least suspended any further movement until January so we at least have the holiday.  And, in reverence to the season, Angi broke out the tree yesterday to beginning trimming. 
Now the one good/bad thing about having an interior designer for a friend is we get the majority of the left overs.  His busiest time of the year, of course, is the holidays.  Needless to say we have accumulated A LOT of Christmas decorations.  To date, three trees, big artificial ones, but not the cheapo Dollar Store ones, but the lush handmade ones.  When I came home, they had it up in the living room and were working on pulling off the lights.  Apparently, at some point, they failed and Angi had the idea of pulling them off and buying new ones.  Now I don't know what sadistic little Elf strung these wires but they were strung, looped, intertwined, clipped and knotted all throughout the tree!  And there were THOUSANDS!!  After eating a very fine dinner Angi, Logan and Elijah went back at it!  The floor was littered with clips, needles and half exposed wires as they fought on bravely to defrock this overly plump tree.  And as much as the day had inspired me to just plop down on the couch and zone out, they were all toiling away before me, each one enduring a series of cuts and scrapes from the wires and sharp faux needles.  What could I do?  I ponied up to one side of the tree, even though Angi insisted that I needn't help, and to just sit and relax, but I joined in the fray!  Finally, after they had been working on it for three hours, it was done.  And it is there, that my involvement in the decorating process ends.  For two reasons.  One, it is tradition (at least in this family) perhaps stemming from Angi's German side, that the women of the family decorate the tree. My role is simply to make sure the tree is straight and to hold up the child who gets to place the Angel on top each year.  Second, I learned sometime ago that she is "particular" about how her tree looks, and my involvement only impedes that achievement, so best to just bow out.  At least nowadays we can laugh about it!  Many a past Holiday tradition included the "Trimming of the Tree Melee!"  sung to the tune of "The Twelve Pains of Christmas". 
ANYWHO!
Yesterday was fun, thank you all so much!  The Schwinn hybrid we put out sold expectantly quick!  And 'twas another case of  "SLAP! I could have had a V-8!"  A gent came in first thing, checked her out, rode her and loved it, but thought he could find a better deal else where.  As he had just started looking, he left to visit some of the other local shops.  At times like this I really want to tell the prospective bike shopper what is in store for them upon entering another establishment, but fear I will come off as a pushy "used car salesman".  As I am a firm believer in education through practical experience , I bid him a fond "good day".  Now, as is the normal pattern in these situations, ten minuets later one of our regulars came in.  He has bought two bikes from us in the past several years, but unfortunately his last purchase was stolen, so he was in the need for a new ride.  He was smitten by the ride, but he too was interested in testing the market.  Luckily, a scant half hour later he returned, thinking better of a long search, realizing he couldn't find a bike more better suited for his needs, and snatched her right up!  A few hours later, the first shopper returned, another victim of "Sticker Shock" seeking to procure the Schwinn.  I do feel bad at times like this.  Had I just spoken up perhaps he would have avoided the disappointment, but it is a slender tight rope we walk. 
Also, thank you to a very wonderful couple who realized the beauty of the Suteki touring bike we had and for giving her a good home.  And I do hope my suggestions for pedal position in reference to wheel clearance did not come off as condescending, but they had a real good sense of humor over the subject!  Also, picked up a couple more soon-to-be gems, and one that I already processed out.  Was originally going to spend the day working on the bevy of high end stuff, but thought better of it.  We have several, more reasonably priced bikes to work on, and we don't want to appear as if high end is what we are all about!  Oh NAY NAY!  We know our bread and butter is in the bikes that hover around a hundred bucks or less, and don't want to let off those in lieu of the expensive stuff!  So with that, put together a sweet Trek 7200 hybrid, and a really clean looking (and lighter) Mongoose XR-200!  These babes will look GREAT under any ones Christmas tree! 
As I mentioned in a previous response to one of Uncle Chippies comments, I started the work on the Schwinn Paramount last night and it's almost ready to go out.  As I sat here first thing this morning having my coffee I couldn't help but stare at it and realize just how perfect it's size was for me.  And just how wonderful a historic addition it would make to my collection.  So at this point, once finished it will be going out for sale at a price reflective of it's scarcity and historic Veloist heritage.  If it should go to a home more worthy of mine, so be it.  But if within two weeks it does not.....it goes under my Christmas tree!
And on the subject of Chip and by extension, the lovely Joanne, I do so appreciate their visits, and when Chip comes in it is moments of humor and frivolity.  I especially loved his response to the sight of the Paramount yesterday.  This man has probably seen or owned more important pieces of cycling history then I could possibly imagine, but when he spied this gem, with dramatic flourish, he dropped to his knees (literally) in homage!  Later that evening they both returned (a reoccurring tradition on their date night) to pay a visit and drop off some front forks we're going to try and make fit on one of the other road bikes we got in.  I happened to be watching MST3K at the time, and I discovered just what a wonderful sense of humor Joanne had, as she stood transfixed to Joe, Crow and Tom Servo in hysterics.  Yes, not everyone gets the appeal!
All right I have much more to do so will be seeing you all later!

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26" MONGOOSE XR-200 DUAL SHOCK!
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