For the first time since we moved to Delaware in 2006, we're having a Christmas tree in our house.
When Bill and I first got together at Christmas 1964, we did the Christmas Tree Thing up big. Bill even created a circuit board (Bill was an electrician in his previous life) that changed the color of the lights.
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| Christmas 1966 Pennsauken New Jersey (Polaroid photo) |
For the next several years we continued having a traditional, fully decorated Christmas tree in our next four places that we lived.
I'm not sure when we fell away from putting up a Christmas tree in our home. Maybe about twenty years ago we figured the effort just wasn't worth all the trouble of putting a Christmas tree up then taking it down after Christmas. Not that we were "Bah humbug!" for Christmas, both of us like the Christmas season, but for two old single men? Let the kids have Christmas.
For the past several years I started thinking "Christmas tree" again, but quickly dissuaded myself of all that effort of getting out all my Christmas decorations. Then I saw Pat's aluminum Christmas tree that he puts up for himself. I thought it was cute.
I began rethinking having a Christmas tree.
Then last week, while I was in our local Ace Hardware I noticed they had one of those cute aluminum Christmas trees on displace brightly blinking its LED colorful lights. "Hmmmm", I thought. "Maybe."
I didn't want to make an impetuous decision and buy it right away. I would "think" on it. Well, the "thinking" was done and yesterday I decided to buy it.
I wanted to buy the sample tree that they had on display. I didn't want to buy one of those artificial trees that I had to assemble and disassemble each year. My late friends Bob and Jim had one of those trees. It was beautiful when it was finally put up but it did take a lot of effort to assemble the tree. In Bob's later years he often got the branches mixed up. He had longer branches toward the top and shorter ones on the bottom. He didn't bother changing them. Their Christmas tree began to reflect Bob and Jim's deteriorating health. I didn't want to go down that route. This floor display Christmas aluminum tree I was considering buying at Ace Hardware would not have to be put together and taken apart. That was the deciding factor for me.
I brought my $20 Ace Hardware coupon with me and bought that $69.00 aluminum Christmas tree.
Yesterday I found the perfect location for this new addition to our home. I spend a lot of my time in our kitchen, behind the counter. Bill spends most of his day in our sunroom. We have an open floor plan. Thus we can enjoy our Christmas tree to the fullest extent.
I placed the our new Christmas tree on that little glass topped deck table that occupied that corner of our living room. Viola! Perfect! In fact it was so good that I told Bill to get in the car and we were going to the Kitchen Ware store in Rehoboth Beach. I was going to buy more Christmasy things to compliment our new addition to our living space.
The video you see at the beginning of this blog is the result of those new additions. I have more to go and will update in future blog postings.
This year will probably be our last Christmas together. Bill is gradually getting weaker (his VA nurse is coming in again next week to check on him and give him his annual flu shot). Bill doesn't think he will be here next year. He is tired and wants to go. My goal is to make his final days as comfortable and happy for him as possible. This new Christmas tree is making him very happy. He loves the colors and brightness.