Four or five Christmases ago, I decided I absolutely needed a kitschy Christmas tree. I went to the big evil superstore that shall remain nameless (it was the best we had in the tiny New Mexico town where we lived) and "splurged" on a super-fake white artificial tree. I loved it. Mister Man was gone that year, as he often was, so my younger daughter and I had the freedom to be as silly as we wanted in our decorating without him being a wet blanket about it. The white tree hasn't gone up every year, just a couple times. Two years ago, it was on the front porch, with all red, white, and blue decorations. Last year, in my lonely funk, it stayed packed in the garage. Thus it was a surprise when the man announced that he had assembled my "straw-colored tree" on the porch, and it was now my turn to decorate it. Apparently thirty bucks doesn't buy you a lifetime of kitsch, but only a few years' worth. The now-golden tree was oddly mesmerizing in the afternoon light, so I went with it. I covered it in multi-colored lights and multi-colored tinsel, and hung a half dozen ornaments on it. I'll hang a few more when I figure out where my wire hooks are. I think it looks pretty good, even with discolored plastic needles.
For about as long as I've had the formerly white tree, we have been buying fresh wreaths from an old friend of ours in Maine, to support her kids' scout troop. They arrived yesterday, and we hung one inside and one out, covered in lights. The man also draped lights around the bushes and trees in the front. I am fairly certain this is the full extent of our decorating this year. Between me being sick at the end of November, and us going out of town earlier this month we had very little time to decorate. I don't see a point in doing more, for just the last two weeks of the month. And the man is barely able to find his winter holiday spirit when decorating in December means hanging up lights outside wearing shorts and no shirt.
We are not entirely without seasonal spirit. The man suggested today would be a great day to make a pot of mulled wine (which turned out to be an excellent way to poach pears for dessert as well), and we are pretending it's a lot colder than it is, with a roaring fire. I'm even starting to enjoy the idea of presents this year. I probably need to move a little faster on those, if I'm going to have them ready to give out on time. It feels good to want to play the game, for the first time in a long time. Another cold snap would help keep the holiday mood going. I don't have much hope for Christmas snow, but a little chill in the air would be nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment