O Tannenbaum

Dan and I went Christmas tree shopping yesterday. I miss the days of going to a tree farm, roaming acre after acre, finding the perfect tree, and cutting it down on the spot. Instead, we went to Home Depot and sifted through the pre-cut trees. We still had a good time, especially Dan, who had a good laugh when I fell like a Domino, as trees toppled on me one after another. But I found my tree in record time. And it’s perfect.

I decorated the tree last night, but certainly didn’t set any records for time in that department. No matter how hard I try to complete this task in a reasonable amount of time, it’s a six-hour process, minimum. My OCD is at its worst (best?) when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree. Most of the time is spent hanging the lights, which always pushes me dangerously close to the brink of insanity (see the weekly poll). Hanging the ornaments is time-consuming as well, but in a much more enjoyable way. I love looking at each ornament, remembering when and where it came into my possession, and finding the perfect place for it among the branches. Here are just a few of my favorites:

These are some of my most unusual ornaments. The one on the left is a glass pickle. It’s German tradition to hang the pickle ornament last. The first child to find the pickle receives an extra gift. Next is the cardinal. KB gave this to me after years of me making fun of a scraggly bird ornament she’d hang on her tree. Now, I have my own scraggly bird. Finally, there’s the spider and web. A friend of mine from grad school, DeWayne, gave this to me in deference to my fear of spiders.

These are some of the ornaments I painted by hand. After grad school when I couldn’t find a job, I painted a lot to pass the time. You know that commercial where the woman says, “Is not having your high school diploma keeping you from finding a job?” I’d yell at the TV, “No, having my master’s degree is!”

These were a gift from Mom. They're gold-plated leaves, real ones. Love 'em!

Not sure why, but these two are my favorites. They're not very spectacular here, but they look ethereal in the white light of the tree.

Put it all together and voilà!