Tis the Season

While I may be a humbug about Thanksgiving and it's assorted icky foods, I am positively cheerful when it comes to Christmas. I like Christmas songs and movies and cookies. You can't go wrong with Bing Crosby and some hot chocolate. And, with my current location, a white Christmas isn't too far-fetched.

So, while I have no decorations for other holidays (I'd like to see you try to put up pink Valentine hearts in my house), I do have ornaments and decorations full of Christmas holiday cheer.


My collection of ornaments makes me smile. I have favorite animals like moose and puffins, glass balls passed down from my grandmothers, and ornaments from Alaska, Amsterdam and, most recently, Centennial, Wyoming (a bison with a Christmas bow!) How can a grizzly hugging Santa because of a fish present not make you laugh?

Last weekend I decided to get a Christmas tree. I've not had one in years, since it just didn't feel right in Florida. I once considered decorating a palm tree, but those are hard to come by in apartment-size and they have too few branches for all of my ornaments. And I'm not that kooky.

I was surprised to find that Laramie did not offer many tree purchasing options. I discovered that many people enjoy cutting their own from a nearby woodlands. For ten dollars, you can get a permit to cut a tree in the national forest. For zero dollars, you can even go up to a remote part of the forest and illegally cut a tree. That seems more like Scrooge than Bob Cratchett, but there you go.

I didn't really like this do-it-yourself idea, because when I go for a hike in the woods I'd rather not see stumps of removed trees. I also worried about how one would choose a tree from an entire forest. What if I removed a chipmunk's winter stash? What if I snatched an owl's favorite tree? I couldn't live with the guilt.

So I bought a farmed tree from a nursery. It came from Wisconsin, which is a weird place for a tree to come from (cheese, maybe, but trees?), but at least I supported a farmer and left the forest alone.

Decorating was fun, and was helped along by Wookie, who also tried to eat the tree, to little effect. He enjoys the commotion and loves trying to knock ornaments down, so I put soft ones and bells on the lower branches especially for him. Sammy's only Christmas joy is ribbon, and since I wasn't wrapping presents, she declined to help with anything and removed herself from the situation.

The tree turned out great and the house is ready for Santa. Unfortunately, he will not be able to get down the chimney because some nasty soul blocked it off. Because you wouldn't use a fireplace in Wyoming, would you?!? I can't leave him any milk and cookies because of the Wookie (abandoned food is fair game)and I can't leave the window open because it's about 12 degrees outside. I will just have to believe that Santa can overcome these tiny issues and bring some splendid gifts anyway. I've been mostly good this year. Really.