After reading Heidi’s blog (Matt’s sister), I was inspired to write about my own fond Christmas Memories.  Heidi had written a story about her beloved brother (aww) and his attempt to control an otherwise uncontrollable situation with Heidi via a cleverly wrapped gift.  You see, his sister suffers from the same disease that my own sister suffers from.  It’s called ‘nosyitis’, and involves involuntary muscle spasms, that when left untended, result in shaking, poking rattling and early opening of Christmas gifts under a tree.  He had to leave her gifts early when visiting her, and he KNEW that she would attempt to unwrap her gift well before the allowed date.  So, he actually DOUBLE wrapped it, with a nice little note securely taped to the inside wrapping.  Imagine her surprise when she thinks she’s being sneaky and unwraps the first layer!  She has kept that note to this day, and along with attending group therapy, finds that it helps her cope with her illness.  Suzy....er....I mean my sister, wouldn’t respond much to that, as she would simply pretend the note was part of some elaborate wrapping paper and show it off to her friends.  Besides, she doesn’t do well in group therapy.  

 

That said, I still have plenty of good memories of Christmas’ past.  One in particular involves Suzy and I and some crazy antics.  You see, every now and then I have a bit of a problem getting my shopping or wrapping done and need some assistance.  This particular year, I had to do some last minute shopping.  Our family celebrates on Christmas Eve, and it was Dec 23rd.  We were sitting around and I was complaining that I still needed a couple more gifts.  My sis promptly informed me that Ames was open 24 hours!  What!?  In PLATTSBURGH?  I was dumbfounded, as I thought I’d have to hustle my ass out to the mall the next morning on Christmas Eve to get these items.  I don’t need to tell any of you that even in Smallville, you DON’T want to be near a mall on Christmas Eve!  So, I figured it would be a great opportunity to see what was there.  Besides, these were small items that I needed, not main gifts and Ames would be perfectly fine.  

 

Somewhere around 1:00 am, we arrive at a store that is filled with other smart individuals too!  My sister actually worked there as a department manager at the time and she was introducing me to people and we were walking around the store causing all kinds of commotion with our laughing and giggling.  One might even think that we had been partaking in some type of alcoholic beverage before hand, if it weren’t for our pristine reputations.  We were simply drunk on the ‘Season of Giving’.  All of a sudden, we rounded the ‘Christmas’ aisle and there were clearance signs all over the place for decorations.  75% off!  At that time, this was certainly NOT the norm, so this was truly a good buy!  You never know when you’re going to need an extra set of lights or a tree skirt.  I remarked at all the Christmas trees that were on display, set up and fully decorated in a myriad of themes.  There was even a tree that ROTATED!  Can you imagine???  Instead of having to walk around a tree to gaze at it’s beauty from all sides, one could comfortably sit and just let the beauty come to him!  What a novel idea!  This particular tree was all decked out in a Harlequin theme with strands of pearls, bugles, scrolls, red and gold ribbons, baby’s breath and even was adorned with a ‘floating angel’ as a topper.  The angel had a wingspan of about 12”, and would rock back and forth as the tree was turning from side to side.  This was not only technology at it’s finest, but a heavenly sight to behold.  

 

About that time, the department manager came by and started talking to Suzy about work stuff and remarked that she couldn’t believe this tree was only $40!  Suzy and I looked at each other with the same expression and asked where they were.  The lady told us that the reason it was so cheap was because it was the display model, to which Suzy says “so it comes ‘as is’?”, and her coworker says “Yeah, just like it is!”  

 

It took us about 30 seconds to find some box and to start pulling the whole tree apart, layer by layer.  Down came the bugles, the golden scrolls, the glass ornaments, the baby’s breath and the pearl strands.  Then, without missing a beat, our new ‘floating angel’ found it’s way into the box.  A few more pulls and bends later, and we had that whole tree in a cart, heading for the car.  

 

You see, our old tree had seen better days.  It was the ONLY tree I ever remember having, and the box was sadly torn ragged, the ornaments half broken and mismatched.  The lights were ALWAYS a chore to try to get untangled never mind lit, so we both knew this new found treasure would give us YEARS of enjoyment.  Besides, wouldn’t Mom be super surprised to wake up in the morning and find a brand new tree fully decorated in her living room???  Surely we thought we had hit the Christmas Lotto.  

 

Once back at the house, the real task at hand was getting this all into the house, taking the old one down and getting rid of it, setting this one up and replacing the presents underneath.  All without Thelma waking up.  Piece of cake.  My mother snores so loud that we heard her when we rounded the corner of Wallace Hill Road!  Surely this was a snap assignment for two seasoned veterans.  

 

Laughing and giggling, we tore apart the old tree with wild abandon.  We said “goodbye” to the cracked ornaments, “so long” to the old fashioned lights, “sianara” to the tinsel.  We were about to install the most sophisticated tree anyone in Thunderbird Heights ever saw.  (That is unless they also happened to shop at Ames.)  One by one, branches flew out the door onto the front porch, as we cleared way and decided how and where this new larger tree would stand.  The base was surprisingly easy to put together.  No more metal bowl with three screws twisting into an old pole!  This tree had a plastic modern stand that just snapped together!  The branches were color coded so even an idiot could assemble this tree in minutes.  Previously, we had to lay all the branches out and figure out which ones were shorter and which were longer.  Some were bent a bit and needed readjustment every year too, so that was always a pain.  

 

The layers of crystal lights, glass ornaments, trumpets, gold and red bows, and other items flew up the tree.  The final item to complete our achievement was only moments away from being mounted.  After standing on a kitchen chair, and maneuvering the cord down the inside of the tree, I gave our newest angel her permanent home.  All that was left was to plug the whole thing in and behold our accomplishment!  We did just that and were so amazed how good it looked that we hadn’t realized that Thelma made her way up the hall toward the living room and was standing just feet away from us.  Living in a trailer isn’t as  close quartered as you might imagine....at least it wasn’t THAT night!  

 

Mom lets out a “What in Hell is going on out here?”, “You two are making so much noise!” She obviously was groggy as she held up the wall on her way down the hall.  She stops at the entrance to the living room, only inches away from our marvel.  She hasn’t noticed the items strewn around the living room yet, or the fact that this tree is completely white in light as opposed to it’s predecessor.  She does, however, see that the entire thing is ‘falling’ over and gasps “Oh my God, the tree is falling!”  With that she reaches out and tries to save it from tumbling, which is nothing more than rotating back and forth.  At that point, she realizes that this, in fact, is not her tree.  It looks nothing like her tree and she is completely speechless.  Speechless, until she notices the ‘floating angel’.  

 

That tree lasted many a year.  I wasn’t there to put it up each year, but I did check on it’s health.  Our angel didn’t last much longer though.  She suffered broken wings, a burnt out candle and probably went insane from all the commotion that transpired over the years when we got together as a family.  She was eventually replaced with a new and improved angel.  The new angel didn’t float or light up.  She also didn’t aid us in giggling at our mother, as her allegiance was to Thelma.