You look pretty!
Tonight, as I changed out of my tae kwon do uniform back into my work clothes in the locker room, one of the little girls there said in a tone of surprised admiration, “You look pretty! Are you going somewhere?” (I was putting my earrings back on at the time.)  I wasn’t sure whether to feel touched by the admiration, or a bit hurt by the surprise.
Speaking of pretty, Harvey and I decorated the tree over the weekend. This is one of our shared traditions, and he seems to enjoy it more every year.
Rob doesn’t participate in this particular tradition; I think he has too many bitter memories of putting up a Christmas tree during his childhood. His mom would become hyper-critical about the placement of every ornament, and their trees were always “themed.”
I myself have no use for a themed family Christmas tree. To me, most of the joy of ornaments is the memories they evoke. “Oh, I remember this one!” “This one has a little note tucked inside from the year you were born.” “So-and-so gave us this when we lived in New York.” “I bought this on the Plaza with Mother.”Â
And someday, when Harvey is grown and gone, I’ll have the opportunity to cry bittersweet tears every year when I put the tree up. Something to look forward to.
I’ve been doing a bit of spinning.
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I’d almost forgotten how easy it is to spin an already-prepared roving. Just sit down and go to town. It’s a different kind of satisfaction, I guess, from preparing a fleece from scratch.
Doesn’t it look pretty?
P.S. Thanks in advance, Ellen, for the luxury yarn and books. I’m honored. Seriously.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Your tree and your spinning look absolutely lovely. I agree with you about the memories about particular ornaments and I share and commend your disdain for themed trees. You know, it’s almost like we were…raised the same way!
Will wonders never cease?
About the luxury yarn and books: just enjoy them. Niki would be honored herself, I think.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
You and Harvey decorate a beautiful tree. And I love the ‘remembering’ part of putting on the ornaments.
December 5th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Ahhhhh, the tree looks gorgeous. Themed trees? Poor Rob! I actually saw a *mail order* tree – pre-decorated – in some catalog I got the other day. (Where do these people get the idea I have the money for this kind of stuff?!) At least it was a real tree, in a pot, so you could plant it after, but still. That’s almost as bad as artificial, pre-decorated or not. There’s nothing like the smell of a real Christmas tree.
Ok, and now I’m wondering A) where the heck I could get a little tiny apartment tree; and B) would Radio Cab boggle at getting a call from someone who needed to carry even a small tree home, as my stepdaughter and SIL’s SUV is kaput at the moment. [g] I’m not gonna even contemplate trying to lug a Christmas tree home on the bus…no matter how small. Lugging a spinning wheel all over Portland on a bus was bad enough!
Oh yeah – nice yarn! 😉 Funny, I just found some black and white roving myself in a stash dive the other night. LOL. Serendipity?
December 6th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I tried to do a themed tree one year – I couldn’t stick to one kind of ornament, so my “theme” every year is “the family tree”, wherein we place all the ornaments that the kidlet has made through the years, and the special ones, and the precious ones, and the ones we just like. That’s my theme, and I’m stickin’ to it!