I almost surprised myself this year by fretting iver holiday card choices well before panic time. I couldn't decide on a photo, so I decided to choose the envelopes and cardstock and go from there. Sure enough, once I had the supplies I was able to select not one, but five photos, for the card. My favorite was a photo of a cheery male cardinal, painted by Bob's Uncle Les long before I ever joined the family over forty years ago.
When I finished the cards, I felt I could tackle the tree. It's an artificial fir (or maybe balsam) we bought at Menard's in an after-Christmas sale a year or two before we moved to Lake Elmo. We had to get a tree without lights because, well, that's all they had. The first two or three years, I wrestled with a very long strand of lights that I had to roll up on a large cable. It was fine the first year and OK the second, but by the thrid the roll had somehow become tangled and, after hours of work, the damn thing wouldn't liight!
By then we were in full COVID mode and I had to take what I could get. Fortunately, LED lights had improved and gotten a lot cheaper and I eneded up with seven or eight strands of one hundred ligths, which I stored in separate zippered cloth envelopes during the "off" season. On Thursday, I set up the tree and yesterday, with a little trepidation, I tested the light sets. All perfect, witth only a couple of non-funcctioning bulbs -- no problem because the lights are connected in parallel, not in series.
On the day after Thanksgiving) I got all of the ornaments on the tree. The most fun with the tree was during our holiday brunch on December 15. I had hidden the Christmas pickle ornament in the middle of the tree, easy to find for the little ones Tradition dictates that the first person to find the pickle gets a special gift, but I revised the rules and everyone who found it got something (bath bombs, small chocolate bars, $10 Amazon gift cards). I felt the pickle was finally getting the attention it deserved: the first ornament was given to me about a decade ago by Trudy Hennessey, and I think I must have left it in the tree and inadvertently given it away to the Goodwill when the tree was replaced. Trudy got me another pickle that I've managed to take good care of . However, I think this is the first year we've played "find the pickle" and the expected good time was had by all.
I'm going to have a good luck at all the ornaments before I put away the tree tomorrow. I know the provenance of most of them, and look forward to seeing all my favorites every year. However, I do love to put away the tree on January 2. I'll wait till after Epiphany to take down the other decorations, including a number of manger scenes, from several cultures and eras.
This has been an unusually spiritual Christmas, with time to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation. Christus natus est. Our God is with us.
