Random musings on our Christmas Tree
1. Nov. 1 at our house = the tree goes up.
2. It really doesn't make me less thankful at Thanksgiving to have a tree up. In fact, my thankfulness abilities have never been impeded by any sort of foliage...real or otherwise.
3. We put up the tree so early because I just love everything about the Christmas Holidays. I love wrapping gifts, I enjoy decorating, I like visiting people and entertaining and making deformed gingerbread houses that mysteriously fall apart during the night.....all of it. I like it all so much so that I don't want any of those fun things to stress me out. I don't want to get stressed out over wrapping gifts. So I spread it all out. Putting up the tree is first.
4. If someone sees my tree up, they immediately (unless they know me know me) think they need to tell me all the reasons their tree isn't up yet. Not that I am so into myself that I don't care...but I really don't think about when other people put up their trees. I know I have a slight nut case thing about me. I know it isn't really normal to do 42.5% of the things I do.
5. When people complain about the trees being put up in stores before Halloween...it makes me smile on the inside. I then get to tell them it used to be my JOB to go to K-marts, Targets and Wal-marts in the Hinesville, Savannah and Richmond Hill, GA areas to set up displays for companies. I really enjoyed it. It didn't exactly use that Furman English BA or the teaching certification at the time...but I could fluff and set a pretty tree really fast. Not to mention, I knew where every bathroom was at any of those stores.
6. It took a lot of wearing John David down over the years to get him excited about the tree going up this early. He brought it up and checked all the lights for me last night - no complaints:)
7. We all love the smell of a real tree...but due to the variety of allergies at our house, our tree is artificial...and pre-lit. (And does not require most of my knowledge gained from the extensive tree putting together experience I have. But there it sits, in my brain. Taking up space. I think this is why I can not remember stuff now. No new space. Just stuff like the tree information and the Canterbury Tales prologue taking up space.)
8. We have a separate, smaller science fiction tree for all our Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments. (My Mom always bought me a Hallmark ornament each year...usually an angel...and then gave them all to me when I got married for my own tree. I started buying Hallmark ornaments for the boys...and after a while, we had a lot of ornaments of the science fiction variety. Now we have a smaller tree for those and cool colored lights. See what I did? I just made have a secondary science fiction tree seem like a sweet family tradition off shoot vs. a crazy idea.
9. By getting the tree and all the other "stuffs" of Christmas spread out and done early, it really lets me spend lots of time with the kids about things of actual importance like Christ's birth and God's grace. I am looking forward to making nativity sets with them from doe this year and having them organize a mini play about Jesus' birth.
10. We didn't have a tree the year we moved to Roswell, Ga because we moved on the week of Christmas. My mom showed up with a small tree because, "You only get so many Christmas mornings with the kids at home and they really need a tree." That thought really stayed with me. And the little crooked tree:)
11. I could type more...but today's to-do thing it to get the ornaments down!
