Christmas Tree Fairy

After Christmas last year, when it came time to take down the tree(s) we were deeply immersed in the planning and thinking about the Master and T's impending weight loss surgeries. It was the middle of January, and we'd just made the decision to go ahead with His surgery, and we were just a week out from making the same choice with T as well. We were looking ahead to some pretty intimidating weeks and months, and we were also anticipating some great benefits to accrue as we passed through the process. On that day, deep in the depths of the winter, I declared that the whole year would be "Christmas" for us, and that by way of marking that reality, I was leaving the Christmas tree up and lighting the lights as long as we needed to do that. My little Christmas tree stayed up well into March when He, Himself asked me to take it down. At that point, the tree had stood in my living room for just about four months.

After this last month, after this last weekend, I am wondering if we weren't, after all, premature about taking it down. I don't really believe that there was any "Christmas magic" that would have protected us against this last round of surgery, but leaving the tree up would have kept me from spending the last weekend serving as the "Christmas Tree Fairy."

First, I put up my little tree. He'd been increasingly wistfully noticing all the trees up in all the windows in our neighborhood. My tree isn't too tough. It has to be assembled, and of course the ornaments have to be put on it. I had it all in place and ready to start decorating when I remembered that last year (in March) I'd thrown out my old Christmas lights -- those ones that I'd carried with me from place to place ever since I was newlywed at the age of 20... Yup. Thirty-four years. It was definitely time, but of course, it meant that I had to go out and buy some new ones before I could go ahead with the decorations.

While I was rummaging around out in the garage, I found the little 32" fiber-optic lighted tree that we bought two years ago to put in Master's mother's room. We didn't do anything at all with it last winter. The memories were too raw. But there it was, so I pulled it out and set it up with all its little tiny decorations, and put it in a pot out on the patio. It looks very cute sitting on the table outside our window.

The tree that Master and T have is ENORMOUS. It is a huge, pre-lit beastie that has to be put together because it comes in three sections. The biggest, center section weighs a ton. It is too heavy for T, and too heavy for Master (especially right now). So, Sunday morning, after breakfast; after T left to go visit with her mom; I went over and wrestled the monster tree into place in her living room. I plugged and unplugged the various cords, until I finally figured out how to make all the pre-lit lights actually light up. It is a stunning thing, but what a hassle!

Finally, Master and I went to visit His dad. We had a little "music-box" Christmas tree from Hallmark that we wanted to give him. Arriving at "the home," we ran Grandpa down in the dining room and hauled him back to his apartment. There we unwrapped the little musical tree which was a great hit. Then Master began asking His dad about a tree that we'd ordered for Him and Master's mother two years ago. It is a beautiful 18", pre-lit tree, hung with hand-painted Thomas Kincaid ornaments. Grandpa looked befuddled, and declared that he didn't remember any such tree. When we asked about whether it might be in his storage, Grandpa was sure that the only thing in the storage were some old suitcases. After awhile, as Master kept probing, I offered to just take a walk to the storage and have a look. Grandpa gave me his key, and off I went. Lo and behold, there it was, right in the front, right in its original box. I grabbed it, and hauled it back to the apartment. With just a bit of "perkafication," it was as good as new, and duly installed there in Grandpa's place. His new lady friend was summoned to come see the sights, and he was thrilled with the whole business.

Just call me the "Christmas Tree Fairy."

swan