A First Taste of Christmas

Last night I assembled the Christmas tree - yes, assembled, because Amy doesn't have the heart to "kill a tree" [I told her they're already dead; we're just buying them], even though we live in the Christmas Tree Capital of the Entire World. This place even *looks* like Santa's back yard, once the snow comes - as it did in October this year...

So yes, I assembled ye olde heirloom Christmas Tree of yore and yule.

And then Ian led the process of making me put the lights on the tree, and rolling out the first ornaments. Amy made a mad blitz to Big Lots and Home Depot and CVS, and together we - but mostly she - set up Santa's sleight with two reindeer at the front end of the yard, beyond the dogs' magical Electric Fence, and we decorated a small evergreen in front of the house with Christmas lights. Amy said that that would be the *real* Christmas tree that I wanted. I said it doesn't count if you can't smell pine inside the house. So the compromise is that we'll probably get a wreath; I suppose I can go over and sniff it from time to time.... And we taped big plastic white electrically-powered snowflakes from the ceiling of the front porch, over the railing.

Madeleine got right to work playing with the Hallmark stuffed, musical, dancing statues. I'm not making this up - we have a small collection of them. I didn't see the sense of buying them at the time, but the children's enthusiasm puts this little hobby in a new light. Madeleine was pushing the button on the dressed-for-winter Snoopy, to make him play music with Woodstock, and also the button on the stuffed penguins to make them chirp a penguin-centric remake of "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." Of course, she liked pushing both buttons at the same time, to bring these two musical productions into a gentle harmony of sorts...

At bedtime, looking back on the excitement, Ian reflected: "Daddy, the days before Christmas is like somebody toughening up for a fight." I think he meant it's like getting into shape, or into gear, or both.

But the best part of this First Official Night of the Christmas Season was an unexpected statement that Daniel volunteered toward the end of the busy evening:

"Daddy, last Christmas was very, very, so very nice. I can't tell you how nice it was."

(December 4, 2011)