Convincing Brian that I needed a third tree (to be decorated for the fourth time) was going to be as hard as convincing Brian to let me wax his unibrow. (He protests like a champ.)
It wasn’t that my obsession was getting in the way of his happiness. He’s completely cool with me being a total nutcase. No, his annoyance lies in the fact that all of my Christmas crap is taking up so much space in “his” garage. If I got a third Christmas tree, until we found new homes for the others, he’d be housing two spare trees and one spare peacock Christmas theme. Brian has voiced his displeasure with this arrangement more than once. Presently I have downsized. But two years ago? No. I was in a candy cane, white light fog.
Considering the birth of my new Christmas illness, I was just brazen enough to keep pushing. That multi-colored light tree just had to go. In my defense, during the fall and winter we lose so much daylight. It’s pretty depressing waking up in the dark and driving home in the dark. (You know, the winter blues?) So coming home to the perfect, twinkly tree truly does give me a sense of peace and calm… like perhaps the winter darkness isn’t so bad.
My strategy was to try and get Brian to agree that we needed to “fix the problem.” Men like fixing things, right?
Me, “Brian, come here and sit by me. …Look at the tree. Do you see what’s wrong with the tree?”
Brian, “No.”
Me, “It’s a multi-colored light tree. …But I know how to fix that.”
Brian, “Change the bulbs?”
Me, “Nope. I have a client who’s got a white-light tree…”
Considering our past couple of weeks, he knew exactly where I was going with this conversation.
Brian’s eyes widened, “You want another tree?!”
Me, “YES. I want. ANOTHER. Tree.”
Brian, “Well, what are you going to do with this tree?!”
Me, “We’ll give it to somebody!” (*wink* You’re welcome, Andrea!)
Brian, “What’s the matter with this tree? It’s a nice tree!”
Me, “It’s a multi-color light tree!”
Back and forth we went. My words must have sounded like the nonsense of an anxious and desperate woman-child. As the hope of getting the more ideal Christmas tree was growing dim, I made an offer.
Me, “I PROMISE… if you let me have this tree… *sigh*… I will wait till next year to decorate it.”
Between that and vowing to get rid of the other two trees, Brian indulged me once again and trekked out to pick up the real white-light tree. This one isn’t as fancy as the other. My white-light tree doesn’t have pine cones and the pine needles aren’t as realistic. But this was never about pine needles. This was about the theme! So this less fancy, white-light tree fits into my Square Piece lifestyle just right.
But I am a woman of my word. I tolerated the multi-color light tree for the rest of the Christmas season while the white-light, Square Piece tree remained cocooned in the garage. I waited until the following year to put up the new tree just like I had promised. Yes, I waited all the way until Tuesday, October 19th… In light of the fact that I was a breath away from setting up four Christmas trees in one Christmas season (only to have ONE to show for it), I think that waiting until October of the following year was the less crazy option.
I sympathize with your Christmas tree sentiments, so thank you for setting them to writing. And Merry Christmas! š
Now I want to set up my tree! It’s only 2 days away from the 19th Sue! You gonna put your tree up on Wednesday? š
Nah. I got my fix from all of Joey’s goodies. I think I can wait until November this time. š