Dancing Tree and Other Tales

OilMan said to me as we were having coffee at Acre the other morning, 'We really need to get this Christmas thing settled....' I think that, in a nutshell, is why Christmas feels so frenzied. I never have the feeling that it is 'settled' . I always have the feeling that there is something else I should be doing.So I am trying to pace myself.

Some of you will have seen this picture before, for I put up a picture of it just about every year. Will made it when he was in preschool and every year when I open the bin of ornaments and see it I smile.  In a few days Will celebrates his 21st birthday and I still put his dancing Christmas tree made from aluminum foil, construction paper and green paint on the refrigerator door just as I have every year since he was four or five... I love it.

As far as the 'Christmas thing' is concerned, the tree is up, lit and decorated. I was thinking about some Israeli neighbors we had when OilMan and I were first married and lived in an apartment near the university. Nurith came to me some time in July with a handful of little metal hooks she kept finding in the carpet and wanted to know what they were. Such simple little items...so complicated to explain to someone who has never celebrated Christmas. I put half the ornaments back in the garage this year as part of my ongoing effort to simplify. 

 I did unearth some chili lights from some long ago Christmas and decided to put them on the mantle*. We didn't put the tree in that room this year and it looked a bit forlorn. If we actually use the fireplace, the garland will probably only last about two days before it starts dropping needles all over the place. 

My neighbor bought an artificial tree which weighs over 100 pounds and had to be delivered. The lights are already on it but it's in the traditional three pieces. It doesn't have that nice sprucey scent but it doesn't drop needles all over the place either. 

I had another friend who loved Christmas and had several artificial trees, in addition to a life sized talking Santa and three half sized camels and wise men. She moved the fully decorated trees into their 'barn' (party room) fully decorated where they stayed until the next Christmas.

On now to a birthday present for Will, Christmas presents for the 'Bigs' wrapping packages for the 'Littles' making cookies and a couple of gingerbread houses and Christmas cards....

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