Ah! Decorating the ol' Christmas tree. Something I look forward to all year. We finally managed to get it done today. It wasn't quite the joy it could have been what with being woken up at 5:00am by the noisy neighbours (not to be confused with the naked neighbours) who decided that was the optimum time for shoveling the snow between our two houses. However, they did stop after DH groggily asked, "What's that scraping sound?" and I incredulously hollered back, "They're shoveling the bloody sidewalk!" and slammed the window closed. After that there was a steady procession of some man (not the noisy neighbour) bellowing angrily at the top of his lungs, the city snow clearing/sanding truck and DH's Angel-Who-Isn't walking across my hair to get to her daddy's side of the bed. I spent the next four hours knitting, until DH got up. Anywho, back to decorating the tree.

Christmases Long Past
I have vivid memories of my dad and I untangling the strings of tree lights and laying them out on the living room floor. He would plug them in in the vain hope that the lights would miraculously light up. Of course they never did on the first try. If just one bulb was dead, non of the lights on that string would work until you found the dead one and replaced it with a new bulb. Old Sister and I had the enviable task of unscrewing the old bulb and screwing in a new bulb until the string lit up. Once the tree was done it was time to put the wrapped presents underneath it's boughs. My dad was in charge of relieving the parcel from England of it's string. We always brought him a pair of scissors but he refused to use them. He would carefully pick at each little knot until they were all undone. Old Sister and I were practically bouncing off the walls by the time he got the tape and brown paper off the parcel. Then we would dive in, extracting each of our gifts and carefully tucked them under the tree.


Christmases Not So Long Past
I always tried to get the Christmas baking done before we decorated the tree as there would be four very disappointed people if there were no goodies to snack on while working. DH & I set the tree in it's stand. DH's main job was to put the lights on the tree. Like my dad he laid them out on the living room floor but unlike the old strings of lights it was easy to see which bulbs had burned out. DH is a perfectionist and was careful not to allow too little or too much space between the bulbs. He also spent a great deal of time changing the bulbs when there were two of the same colour too close to each other. It was usually almost bedtime by the time he was done. The rest of the family pitched in to hang the balls and drape the tinsel. It was my job to sit in my chair with my goodies and eggnog and er....um....supervise the decorating.


Christmas Present
DH and I still set up a real tree but now I put the lights on it and we decorate it together. Even the cats help.....well, they try to help.....actually they just want attention and get in the way a lot.


Christmases Yet to Come
It's an unlikely premise but should DH leave this world before me, my tree will be a two foot, fibre optic, artificial that will be stuffed back in my closet a week after Christmas. No muss. No fuss.