O Christmas Tree

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…. With kids jingle bell-ing and everyone telling you 'be of good cheer'…”

More like “…When people are yelling while Black Friday shopping to get the best deal…”

Either way, Christmas time is here! I’ll admit that I put my tree up early this year, before Thanksgiving… which I’ve never done. But really, I didn’t decorate it until this week so it wasn’t technically ‘up’ it was just ‘there’. I decided I’d let the girls get used to it for a while before I hung shiny dangly things all over it that were sure to be quite tempting. So far though, I’ve been quite impressed. The small tree in my bedroom is still standing and with all of its ornaments intact. My large tree has been up and decorated in my living room for 48 hours now and is still standing with all ornaments intact. Strange… who are these kitties and what have they done with my havoc-wreaking furballs? I think it is the calm before the storm… I’m sure Hurricane Gabby and Tropical Storm Izzy will blow through eventually. After all, the tree skirt was only down about 12 hours before one of them threw up on it; I’m sure there is worse to come.

And don’t expect bows on my presents this year. I learned that lesson last year. In fact, I think it will just be gift bags all around this year. Remember this?

With it being Christmas and all, it is natural that I am starting to see Christmas trees everywhere. In parking lots, at the grocery store, through people’s windows, in the beds of pick up trucks…. It’s this last one that makes me nervous and honestly start to twitch a little bit. For the last week I have had eagle eyes on the lookout for Triple F’s (if you are new to my blog and don’t know about the dangers of a FFF, you can read about them here). Obviously I am sensitive to this issue, being a victim of a Triple F myself. I can still hear the sound in my head of that Triple FFF ripping off the underside of my car. Shudder. It also doesn’t help that anytime my family is driving past the scene of the crime (yes, whoever that jerk was that threw a tree in the road committed a CRIME in my book) they feel the need to call me and sing ‘O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree’. Good times. Anyway, as a service to myself and public service to others, I am committed to calling attention to the dangers of Triple F’s. I have my eyes peeled as I’m driving, constantly aware of my surroundings and always on the lookout for any sweet pine smelling trees of car death. Yesterday while driving home I passed a truck with a Christmas tree in the back, with the tailgate up. I honked my horn at him for a job well done. Good lookin’ out, sir! Keep fighting the good fight!

Okay. So maybe that last part was embellished for the sake of good story telling. If I had honked at him he probably would have thought I was crazy, and waved back at me with a half-hearted I-don’t-know-you-crazy-lady wave, in which case I would have been embarrassed and sped ahead of him to relieve said embarrassment, and inevitably gotten pulled for speeding. So, let’s just pretend I honked at him.

Next up for this weekend – wrapping some presents. Wish me luck!