I love Christmas. This really shouldn’t surprise anyone, because, in spite of my misanthropic candy coating, we all know I am a big goofy soft soul inside that loves any chance to celebrate the people I love and remember what is good about the world. Pictures of puppies make me go all googly eyed for the love. Anyway, yesterday we had a mini Christmas miracle. I was at the super Wal-mart before 8:30am with no coffee and I was so inspired by the Christmas spirit, I managed not to swear at anyone or throw any fits of any kind.
Growing up we always had big beautiful fake trees. Yes, trees plural, because my mom had one she helped my sister and I decorate and one of she decorated for herself with our important family ornaments. I remember laying under the tree and watching the lights. My paternal grandmother would come down with my brother for Christmas, and it was the only time of year I ever got to spend time with him. He would take my sister and I out into the back yard and push us in our tire swing that hung from a gigantic tree and point at satellites and tell us that it was Santa. Christmas was magical.
We got older and things lost their shine. My grandmother passed, my brother joined the military and then disappeared from my life, I learned that those really were just satellites, and slowly being a grown up crept in and the magic seeped out.
There hasn’t been a Christmas tree in my house since the mid-1990’s and my sister and I were teenagers. I think we put one up once for my sister when she got home from boot camp. After Ellana left, though, we really never put one up. At first we would decorate a chair, as a joke, and string it with lights and call it our Christmas chair. Even that stopped and we would just pile the presents somewhere.
Saturday, I went Christmas shopping for my mom with my dad. He said, “I guess we aren’t putting up a tree this year again, huh?” I was struck by how sad his voice was. I told him that I didn’t know and asked him if he wanted one. He thought for a second and responded that he would like a small one. I talked with my mom about the conversation and we made a few decisions. Yesterday morning, we decided to bring back our Christmas, but in our own way. I want to share it with you guys.
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- Our first tree in decades and we decorate it in pink and purple. That is how we roll!
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- The tree’s special power of awesome is the fiber optics. So damn classy and traditional.
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- I wrapped some in my signature penguin paper. The ornament is Lola, my skiing hippo. I love her and she is mine.
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- This is where I learned I could get some cool effects if I covered most of my camnera’s flash. Lola, being awesome.
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- I made the decision to wrap Dad’s present uglier than any present has ever been wrapped on purpose. That is 34 bows. MAD SKILLS
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- Lola is so awesome she photobombs
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- This was from a blizzard a few years ago but it was pretty and snowy and it shows that my dad’s dog has no sense and plays in downed electrical wires. Damnit Petey, get over here!
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[…] that note, I put up our wonderful tree today. Last year, we bought a little bitty 32 inch fiber optic pre-lit tree. It is not at all traditional […]