The tree has been up since Monday night. The ornaments have been "up" then "down" then "up" again about twenty times already. THE DOG! Yes, I meant it to look like a shout.
We have a tradition of waiting until after Lou's birthday to put up the tree. It works well, I think, considering that I like to celebrate one.thing.at.a.time. First comes Thanksgiving. Next comes Lou's birthday. Then comes Christmas. Each event sufficiently celebrated.
Once Lou got married no one but me saw the need for keeping this schedule so the fake one went up a little earlier each season. Last year we began buying cut trees and it bought some time because everyone knows that you can't leave a cut tree in the house for a long time without the needles disappearing from the branches and reappearing all over the floor. If this isn't true I don't want to know about it because we all need a few delusions in our lives to preserve happiness. However, due to other things going on recently, Lou's birthday came and went - and then some - without any sign of a tree. Finally, we couldn't put it off any longer. Karen, the Princess, and their respective entourages came Monday night for The Big Event.
I don't know why they bothered. Pepper promptly un-decorated it after everyone left. Nothing now is in its original location. And she thinks of it as the most magnificent water dish she's ever seen! She didn't understand why Fergie insisted upon drinking out of the bowl in the kitchen when she was here. She tried to show her but Fergie is either more sophisticated than Pepper or she doesn't fancy the taste of tree additive like Pepper does.
I haven't attempted to add wrapped gifts underneath. I've bought Polly and Tigger nice dolls that I don't want to look like they've survived a horror movie come Christmas day! I plan to keep everything elsewhere until The Day Of. That might not be so bad. It will keep A Boy from teaching A Dog bad tricks "accidentally" and exclaiming, "Oops!" when his gifts are somehow unveiled.
Did I mention that I collect ornaments? Each year I buy one that has the date displayed on it. If things keep going the way they have been there will be a few years missing from my life's collection and possibly a few years missing from the life of a certain dog. Just kidding. Please, no nasty comments, e-mails, or SPCA visits. No dogs will be harmed in the making of this Christmas season.
Next year either the tree gets decorated on Christmas Eve and taken down on the 26th or all sentimental decorations will be exchanged for dog-friendly ones like bones, rawhides, squeaky balls, and chew treats. Nothing like new traditions.
One of our residents, at the long-term centre where I work, had a melt-down in the middle of the night. He somehow sneaked onto the elevator in his wheelchair and got off on main floor where we have our beautiful Christmas tree. He proceeded to tear at the branches, the tree fell over and he started flinging the decorations before someone could stop him and take him back to the unit. We do have some residents with various stages of dementia. This has never happened before and the resident is normally a fun-loving, mild mannered person! Go figure! He has nothing against Christmas trees and wasn't trying to make a statement. Just lost his cool and the tree was handy!
ReplyDeleteOh well, we take it all in stride. It took me an hour to re-decorate it. The other residents coming for breakfast all wondered what had happened. I told them that it had probably been really windy during the night!!! Maybe a hurricane or a tornado passed through ~ and some of them have names! Some knew the name of the storm, lol.
Oh well, we don't worship the tree and all its decorations, right! Sure hope this doesn't become a Christmas Tree Tradition! LOL
No, Mom, Pepper destroying the tree is a Christmas tradition. Just don't let her near my penguin and all will be well.
ReplyDeleteSweet Pea's been doing quite a number on our tree. Maybe she and Pepper are conspiring?