Sunday, December 7, 2008

Deck the Halls...and Trees...

Time to pull out the boxes of decorations and deck the halls, walls and pretty much everything! I like to have a little Christmas in every room, be it a tree, a wall hanging, a decorative pillow or some bauble. The majority winds up in the living room and dining room of course. Every year I face the dilemma of color. Colored lights on the tree or white? If I go for color should I choose one color? Or should I choose multicolor? I like both. Twinkle lights or steady lights? Should I have a color theme for the tree or some of everything? Then there is the age old debate about tinsel. Some people can't have a tree without and some can't bear the thought of tinsel. Again, it's a toss up for me. Then there is the nutcracker collection - do I arrange them together on the mantle or spread them around? Ditto for the snowmen.

Next weekend my daughters and I will go out and get our tree. For the past few years we have driven to a tree farm and cut our own. This usually entails us wandering up and down the rows of trees until we agree on the 'perfect' tree. Then they laugh at me while I cut the tree. Especially the first time...I wasn't too handy at it and I'm glad there weren't many witnesses! But I've gotten better each year at cutting. Then last year my oldest daughter invited a boy along. A boy who had apparently never cut down a tree. He politely stepped forward and offered to do the cutting and then loaded it into the back of the car. Later he told his parents with pride that he had cut a tree himself! It was so cute. I was a little reluctant, actually, to have him cut it because it had become a tradition with the girls and I. But then I realized that as my girls get older and have boyfriends it will be quite handy. And it's a measure of a boy's character ( I think) if they are willing to step up and help out. Really, if somebody wants to date my girls I guess they'd better be helpful and polite!

So this week, each night, I will pull a box out of the closet and start the decorating, a little each day until we get our tree up. Then....mmmmmm...time to start baking cookies....

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Naw... your girls need to learn to d some things for themselves and not always wait for a guy to offer (or even do it). why feed into that stereotype?

On the other hand, it was nice of him to offer... maybe this year you should let the elder one try to cut it down... see what she's made of! ;)

Significant Snail said...

esa: Not trying to say it's boys work to cut, I just think that if a potential boyfriend is thoughtful and polite towards me he is likely to treat my daughter the same way. I do offer to let the girls cut but they enjoy poking fun at me. Maybe this year they can do it.

RisibleGirl said...

A little at a time, now THERE's a novel concept! I'm thinking of starting today (since I've very little work to do for my employer). Get the darned thing up and then go from there.

I have all my shopping done and my Christmas cards are made (just need to pick them up from the photo store and stick 'em in an envelope). Decorating is last on my list.

LUCKY said...

Well acording to my father inlaw thats why he had girls so he could have soninlaws to help, I say take it and run we whent to the farm are selves as I weasin like a fat man at a free buffet and I was proud to show bubba his first tree I done chopped!!

Annieofbluegables said...

I have that debate each year and always go with the colorful lights. I cannot help myself. All my life we lived with a flocked tree with blue balls and lights. So I go for the colorful tree with all the tiny wooden German ornaments.
It is an artificial tree that almost touches the 10' ceiling and it is on a rotating stand, so it makes the lights twinkle as they hide behind branches and turn.
I think you are right about the boyfriend who offers to help and is polite, that says a LOT.
Happy Christmas, S Snail!
(ps did you see the star is on my mountain? I watch a webcam and can see it now! yea!) email me and I will give you the webcam link.
~a