"OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE, YOUR BRANCHES GREEN DELIGHT US..." Well, I must say...I expected more comments/guesses in re: the IT of my last posting! I had a revelation, though. Next time I give a pop quiz...I will offer a prize for the right answer! That might get you into the Spirit. :-) If you have not already checked out the comments from the PREVIOUS POST please do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ So...Today officially begins the Holiday season for me. Why? Because since childhood... it is NOT really Christmas-time until after Santa Lucia day on Dec. 13th. In order to avoid redundancy...I will refrain from expounding on this personal Holiday issue. But you can click here: 12/10/2007, if you want to know more. And let me just add that I am only including the link because one of my big sisters told me to! :-) ~~~Moving right along... The only Trees I will be trimming this season will be the trees you see above on the Blog Header. Art imitates life, they say. In my case it often replaces it. :-) But that doesn't mean that my home will not be sufficiently decorated. There will be the perfect mixture of vintage & modern kitsch (which includes a 2-1/2 foot, fiber optic tree), reds and greens in various shapes peeking out from the corners and strategically placed bursts of glitter. Surely enough to satisfy most any sugar plum fairy...or to nauseate the common Grinch. Speaking of trees... My most memorable Christmas Tree story goes back to a Christmas in Green Bay...where I spent at least 2 hours in Menard's parking lot...amongst hundreds of freshly kidnapped trees...in the freezing cold (waaaaay below zero...it WAS Wisconsin!). Of course, I was looking for the perfect one. Finally...a patient friend with a car and more muscle than I, helped me to get the winner...a beautiful, perfectly shaped White Spruce into my living room. I laid the tree down on the carpet, it was stiff and cold & frosty...much like my toes. Then leaving the tree to defrost, I decided to go to bed ...and deal with it in the morning. But I couldn't get to sleep. I could not get my mind off the tree in the next room. I had visions of it in my head...laying there. I felt as if it was beckoning me to the living room. I walked down the short hallway ...my eyes fixed on the tree in the shadows....I felt LIFE. I touched the branches still cold and seemingly 'in-shock'. It was breathing. I needed distraction...so I tried pitter-pattering around the apartment...but to no avail. I could not focus on anything else....because there was a dying body on my living room floor. So, I sat on the floor directly across from the tree and just watched it for awhile. I can't say I was deliberately 'tuning into it'...it was just happening...against my will. I kept saying..."I'm sorry"...I am SO sorry". After what seemed to be hours...but was probably only about 30 minutes, I decided that perhaps if got it upright...and into the tree stand, my living room might lose that "pesky morgue ambiance". So, I lifted it up and set it in the stand...not an easy task. It was heavy and as some of you may know...placing a Christmas tree in those #*$^&@* stands are usually a four handed deal. After I got it to stay straight and stable in the stand I stood back...watching the branches begin to relax a bit. Now...it was looking at me 'FACE TO FACE'. I began to wonder..."what if I feel so much life in it, because there is some little half- frozen being stuck between the branches...like a mouse or a mole or something?"...What if I wake up in the morning and see a furry body that has fallen out of it's little green tree house?".... I stood there...wondering what to do. Gently stroking the still cold, yet softening branches, I shook the tree a little...branch by branch...but not too rough. Nothing appeared. For some reason my hand was magnetized to a specific area and I know it was not a CONSCIOUS decision to do this...(my rational, freaked out mind was too afraid that I would discover something...I would rather NOT.)..but all of a sudden I was reaching INTO the tree...up to my shoulder....and my fingers, now having a mind of their own quickly wrapped themselves around... ...something....I pulled my arm back.........It was a.......it was a.....a piece of bread!!?!!?!!!?!!! I stood there...looking at a slice of frozen white bread. A mole's last supper? Christmas Manna? "Now this is what I call Wonder Bread", I thought! The humor I saw in this was enough to ease my heart for only a minute or two...realizing that perhaps it WAS someones tree-house at some point. And apparently they had vacated quickly, having to leave behind their stash, hopefully finding another shelter where they would not be evicted... without a 30 day notice. The tree just stared at me. I stayed up all night. Gave it water. I talked to it. More water. Pet it's little needles. Apologized some more...and felt it slowly 'warming up' to me. Maybe it figured that it was already taken away from where ever it came from...and at least it landed in MY house...where it would be taken care of and appreciated. By now... That was obvious, I mean... after all...I was apologizing for all of mankind. The sun came up. I crumbled the bread and scattered it out on the ledge of the deck. And I fell asleep. We decorated my tree friend the next day and I told the kids the story. I don't know if they remember, you kinda' 'had to be there'. I will have to ask them. After the holiday, I kept it healthy for quite a long time, it seemed happy. And when the time felt right...and it was losing it's glow, I performed careful surgery on it , finding different uses for the needles and bark and spread some of it on the grounds around my apartment complex. For weeks after Christmas...while walking down the neighborhood streets...I saw rows and rows of the Forgotten and Left For Dead. Some leaning against or halfway shoved into trash cans...some lying in the gutters...some in big black body bags. I looked away...when I could. That was the last 'live' tree I ever had. As you can see...even the digital evergreens on the header...are sitting in their natural habitat.

Gee, I'm glad I am not that sensitive anymore. (she said, with her usual flair for sarcasm)

Ho............... Ho................ Ho................

~~~THANKS FOR READING. I have added some really cool links to the sidebar...take a look. And I hope you enjoy the evolving Holiday Music. More soon.