on holiday traditions

[anotheranon]

D. did the decorating while I was at work today.

For years, I hated, hated Christmas. I had severe seasonal depression, family holidays were always busy and "high impact" and my mother and sister were Christmas nuts who decorated every square inch with some holly or beribboned thing or another. The holiday was invariably exhausting and full of forced gaiety which made it all a stressful wreck.

When I moved out, I insisted on no decorations. Then, sometime after D. and I married, I told him that if he wanted to decorate, it was ok as long as it was secular (not difficult - neither of us are religious), but that I wouldn't help.

This year, I'm easing up a lot. D. joked about getting a tree, and I told him we could after work (though he backed off). Right now our decorations consist of lights wrapped around the stair rail and a fold-up table propped against the wall to serve as our "tree".

For the first time I'm talking to people who are really particular about their trees: natural or nothing, mostly for the wonderful piney smell. Something of an eye-opener for me because I grew up with a fake tree. Each year we'd pull it out of its box, set the pole in the stand use the color-coded tips on the "branches" to put it together. Then my Dad would fulfill his yearly duty of putting the lights on, leaving the ornaments and tinsel to the rest of us (specifically my Mom and sister as I avoided tree trimming after around age 13 or so).

It's a bit late this year, but I wonder if I'll want a tree next year, and if so, what kind? The aluminum has total kitch cachet, but no pine odor. Having said this, if we brought a live tree in this house it would rapidly become the Biggest Cat Toy In The World :P

D. and I brainstormed possible theme trees:

• book tree
  
• computer tree
  
• tampon tree (nope, been done)
  
• Firefly/Serenity tree (Jayne hat as star)
  
• surreal tree (discarded, as I don't know how we'd get the melted effect)
  
• completely cat-safe tree (staple-gunned to the ceiling sans trim of any kind)
  

We also had cinnamon-scented water boiling on the kerosene heater, and even at my most cynical I enjoyed the spicy smell. For the time being, I think I'll stick with that. Mmm, apple cider..

Comments

[skill-grl.livejournal.com]

I put ornaments on my largest houseplant. :)

The gifts are stacked at its base.

(BTW, you want in for any or all of Christmas Eve/ Christmas day?)

[geekchick]

if we brought a live tree in this house it would rapidly become the Biggest Cat Toy In The World

Which is exactly why I don't have live trees anymore. Well, that and I seem to have some very mild allergy to the needles. And that I'm still picking needles out of the carpet where the cat's strewn them well into July. ;)

You could get a Charlie Brown tree if Urban Outfitters still has them. =)

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

Invader Zim tree!
Sandman tree!

Come to think of it I also have enough bottles of hot sauce to make a hot sauce tree...

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Shrek tree. And you can eat the onions after the holidays!

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

It's been my experience that whether it's a live tree or a fake tree, they are all cat magnets!!!! :):)

[skill-grl.livejournal.com]

The best "cat magnet" solution is the bitter apple spray stuff they make to keep cats from chewing on things. It also works on the scratching issue, sometimes.

[kat1392.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to find anything to stop cats from scratching. I think I've tried everything, including squirting them with water. Nada.
We're down to one cat now, and he is old and fat and doesn't do much of anything, so I don't have to worry right now.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Does it stop leaping/climbing? I'm less worried about chewing and scratching than the possibility that they could tip the tree over!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Sounds as if you're doing the right thing ... decorating for yourselves instead of to the standards/wishes/requirements of other people. Good for you! :-)