We usually put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but Bruce and Michael were pretty busy Friday and so the tree setup didn't happen until yesterday.
It's shown below pre-decorated:
We have to put it there because it's literally the only place in the overcrowded family room where it will fit. We just bunch up the sofa, loveseat, and coffee table and end tables to make room. I speculated about some different placements and talked them over with Mom and Bruce, but nothing seemed like a feasible idea. We just have too much furniture. It is what it is, though. We don't like to get rid of things.
So with me still being sick, we weren't able to finish decorating the tree last night, but we got it mostly done.
What remains to be done is that I need to put on the crystal icicles that reflect light and make the tree look shimmery and magical.
Michael said today "We don't have a REAL tree."
"It exists. It's real. It's beautiful. That's enough," I replied, probably too harshly.
I was remembering so many Christmases of my childhood when Dad and Mom would have the yearly Fight About The Tree. Dad balked at the prices of real trees. Mother wanted a real tree, and she wanted it up asap after Thanksgiving. He hated the mess and pine needles everywhere. She refused to have an artificial tree in her house.
Finally, when I was in my twenties and my parents had moved back to Augusta, Dad hauled his last real tree out of the house, and I vacuumed up pine needles for the last time. It was too much work and we were done.We didn't know it then, but Dad had cancer, and it was too hard for him to set it up and take it down.
I like real trees, but I don't like worrying about the needles all over the carpet, and watering the tree, and disposing of it later. I don't think it's environmentally friendly.
I bought our current tree, with its colored lights, a few years ago, after Christmas. It was a floor model, marked down to $50 for a quick sale at Home Depot. A real bargain. The only problem now is that a lot of the colored lights are burned out and I am not sure how to fix that issue.
I will post more photos later of the angels and santas and other decorations. I like to get the house decorated and then take photos.
This was the tree last year.
I've been pretty bummed out about being sick over Thanksgiving, but I was thinking about it today and I realized it wasn't such a terrible thing. I had a few days off work. My brother was here to handle things. (For instance, he fixed dinner last night.) I've been able to do very little the past few days, and that's nearly impossible with you're a single mom.
I've tried to not hug Mother or breathe in her space, because I don't want her to catch my cold. Michael, however, refuses to acknowledge boundaries. He still needs mama hugs every day, and that's OK. He has such a strong constitution he is rarely ever sick. Knock wood.
I have missed Alesia a lot over the past few days. She was always such a help to me during the holidays, and I just purely miss her company. I've also missed Lesleigh since she moved to Austin, although we email most every day. Then last night Bruce and Michael were in the store and I was outside in the car waiting, and I got a terrible feeling of missing my dad, a nearly physical pang. I held it together and didn't cry, though. There was no Kleenex in the car.
The must be one of the hardest things about being older, missing those we celebrated with during Christmases past. We have to soldier on, though, and try to create happy memories for our children.
This was made in 2007, Michael's first Christmas in America. We put the tree in the living room then.
