Oh Christmas Tree

I had quite a bit to do today. Thank goodness Mother Nature cooperated. It was cloudy, windy, and unseasonably warm for most of the day, but it never rained worse than mild spitting. I had no problems getting to the laundromat for this week's laundry session...and no problems in the laundromat, either. There were two old ladies and a college student, but it was mostly pretty quiet. I was in and out in less than an hour.

Got home and put everything away. I made lunch and watched Christmas cartoons, then headed back out again to the Haddon Township Library. I had debated holding off until tomorrow, but I never did get there last week.

As it turned out, there wasn't much to do there, anyway. I put away the small stack of DVDs. Spent most of the hour I was there organizing the kids' DVDs. I was tired of seeing them such a mess, with series out of order and on the wrong shelves entirely.

I took out a book on the creation of many holiday traditions, Inventing Christmas, along with the only American Girl holiday stories I don't own, Josefina's Las Posadas story and Rebecca's Hanukkah story. Also grabbed two new Scooby Doo DVDs, Scooby Doo's Camp Scare and the second volume of Laugh-a-Lympics.

Made quick runs to Super Fresh and Dollar Tree next. The Acme was out of wheat germ in a bag, so I got a box at Super Fresh. I needed toothbrushes, scrub gel, and sponges at Dollar Tree. I also bought a tile grout cleaning brush (it'll make cleaning the tile in the bathroom a LOT easier) and an extra roll of Christmas wrapping paper. Who am I to resist wrapping paper with a sugar cookie theme?

Went straight home after that. I wanted to get a walk in before I started the tree, so I went for a stroll in Veteran's Park next-door. Mother Nature is pretty much shutting down for the season. Most of the leaves are gone from the trees here, although some trees still have a healthy growth. The grass is still fairly green, thanks to all the rain we had this fall, but it's starting to look brown in spots. Most of the shrubs are looking brown, too.

I was going to walk through the paths and over the train tracks, but I saw a cop leading teenagers out of the path and thought this was a very bad time to chance it. I went back to my place and swept my porch instead. Hopefully, today will be the last time I'll really need to sweep the porch for a while. Most of the leaves are gone from the trees directly around the apartment.

When I got back inside, I put everything away from earlier, and finally headed to the back room for today's best chore of all - putting up the tree! It's one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, despite taking me forever to do alone.

Every part of my tree means something to me. The tree itself is on the skimpy side, but it's a six-footer, the perfect size for me to be able to reach up and put the star on top with no struggling. Mom gave it and the wreath to me as early Christmas presents the year I moved into the Wildwood apartment.

The silver tinsel-sequins-and-cardboard star is admittedly chintzy-looking, but I like it. I got it from Family Dollar in the mid-90s, before I even had a Christmas tree. I used to set it up in my room when I lived with my parents.

The lights I bought to decorate my window at college for Christmas. They also decorated the living room window in my Wildwood apartment. I used to have a second string I got from Mom one year, but they burned out and I couldn't figure out how to fix them, so I ditched them. It took me a while to get the lights right...and I still had too much on the end.

I forget where the garlands come from - Mom may have bought them for me. Two of the bead garlands were old necklaces. Another was a necklace my grandmother gave me from a yard sale. A beautiful ribbon garland was a ribbon that came on a package that was too pretty to throw away. One bead garland was used in my room in North Cape May for years.

My ornaments come from everywhere. Friends gave me Scooby Doo and Shaggy on a sled, Rudolph and the Misfit Toys, Pooh the Angel and his Christmas honey, a Zangoz and a Google, Yogi and his picnic basket filled with candy canes, and the New Year's Bears. Mom gave many of them to me as annual presents, usually from Winterwood in Rio Grande or the Whale's Tale in Cape May. Mom and I used to go to Winterwood to shop for the family's ornament presents every Thanksgiving weekend - I miss that.

There's the movie clapper and the pink and green glitter flip-flops from last year. There's the gingerbread man with the dangling legs and the big bell-shaped red glass bear with the resin head. There's the bear shopping and carrying full bags, and the porcelain bear with the dangling red and white stripped scarf. There's more traditional round balls, too. Some came in boxes bought from Family Dollar. Others are fancier. One's one of those old-fashioned tear-drop shaped ones with the indentation, like the ones Mom had when we were little. There's the gorgeous white ball with the hand-painted holly, and the Santa and Mrs. Claus scene. There's the simple, heavy magenta ball with the white bow tied on top.

Mom made some of the soft ornaments when I was a teenager. My favorite is Holly Hobbie, made in red and green calico. She looks like my beloved childhood Holly Hobbie quilt. I literally used that quilt until it fell apart! There's the big felt Santa face, and the plaid tree with the buttons. I was so happy to see it all again.

It took me much longer to do the tree than I thought it would! It was quarter after 7 before I finally ordered dinner from Capitol Pizza. I ran Scooby Doo Laugh-A-Lympics while I waited, and later while I ate my chicken and spinach wrap and thimble-sized cole slaw. Although the episodes are shorter, there's still some inspired gags here. I always vote for the Yogi Yahooeys (gotta stay loyal to one of my favorite bears), but I have to admit, the Really Rottens are some of the most creative cheaters I've ever seen...and there was at least one race (the scooter trip through the Italian countryside) that they actually won legitimately.