I can’t remember if I mentioned that we went Christmas tree shopping last week. We went on Wednesday evening and picked out a tree with just about as little stress as we’ve ever had in that process over eighteen years of marriage.
When we first arrived at the lot, I was a little concerned because P uttered the same words he says every year. “Remember that last year we got a smaller tree and agreed it looked better.”
Um. No. I don’t remember it that way at all.
But we made our way through the lot as I headed back to the trees in the 8-9 foot range because I don’t want a tree that isn’t significantly taller than me. That’s when we saw the absolute perfect tree specimen. It just looked like a Christmas tree standing right there in the lot and, frankly, put all the other trees to shame. We all agreed it was the one, brought it home, and then discovered that while it is the perfect height, it’s just a tad too wide for our room. And by a tad too wide, I mean that you can no longer see the T.V. when you sit on the right side of the couch. Whatever. It’s a minor detail.
I left for Houston on Thursday morning and P spent most of Friday putting up our outdoor lights. Caroline requested the we really go all out this year and so I was thrilled to come home to a house that is now fully illuminated on the outside. She wanted icicle lights and he wanted colored lights and I really didn’t care as long as there was lighting of some kind and I think he came up with a lighting design that makes us all happy, although we’re already talking about what we could do differently next year. It’s hard to figure out the optimal decorative lighting situation while standing in the aisle at Lowes. I started to get so stressed about it that I had to talk myself down and remind myself that it’s just Christmas lights, not something super important like new boots.
I think I really wanted the lights to be good because it mattered to Caroline and Christmas time is a little different with a kid who’s on the brink of being a teenager. She’s still excited about a lot of our yearly traditions and in some ways it’s much more relaxing to drink hot chocolate and decorate a tree with breakable ornaments and watch Christmas movies with a kid who’s old enough to not melt down from too much sugar and staying up too late. But as I put out the old pictures of her sitting on Santa’s lap over the years, I realized that we don’t have a picture from last year and there’s no way she’s doing it this year.
And while our elf, Smiley, is still making daily appearances, she hasn’t paid any attention to where he is or what he’s doing. In some ways, it’s easier because in years past I thought we might have to resort to one of these scenarios I’ve seen on Pinterest.
I actually thought earlier today that maybe Smiley needed to leave a message spelled out in M&Ms that reads, “I WON’T BE IGNORED”. But I think when your elf starts to sound like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, it might be time to take a few steps back and reevaluate life.