The Little Christmas Tree

It must be hard to be married to a "Christmas Elf."  At least my hubby tells me so every December.  I don't know...I  think it would be fun to have someone so excited about the holidays that you can't help but catch their enthusiasm.

 

I guess it didn't help things the year I decided to play a trick on him and he almost put a bullet through our living room wall.

 

Just so you have the whole picture...my husband is a police officer, which means he carries a gun for a living.  He is also former military so maybe having a surprise for him that took place in a dark house late at night wasn't the best idea I've ever had. 

 

It all started with a trip to Walmart.  Do you remember when those motion-activated holiday things were all the rage?  Like the Christmas tree that sat on the table like a real tree until you walked past it and then the eyes opened and it said in a booming voice, "HO! HO!  HO!  Merry Christmas!" and then started to sing?

 

Let me set the stage.  It was our second Christmas, and my hubby and I had moved the furniture around so that our Christmas tree would fit.  We decorated both tree and house together.  He even said it all looked nice.

 

I just couldn't leave well enough alone, could I?

 

One night just before Christmas, I hid that motion-activated tree in our Christmas tree, turned off the lights and hid in the hallway to see his reaction.  It was probably a good thing that I was out of his line of sight...

 

My tired husband gets done his 4-12 shift and walks into a dark house after long day at work.  Just as he moves through the living room to turn on the lights, there is a rustle to his left and a deep male voice starts talking...and then singing...

 

To be perfectly honest, I really didn't think he would pull his gun and aim at the Christmas tree. 

 

I turned on the hallway light and called his name (well, more like gasped his name because I was laughing so hard).  He turned toward me and asked in a not so nice tone what I thought I was doing.

 

Which is really funny if you think about it...because we had just had a conversation about the fact that I was always so serious about everything.  If there ever was a time to be serious about thinking through a plan, it was probably this one but then again my sense of timing never was the best.

 

Needless to say, that little Christmas tree disappeared shortly after that. 

 

 

The Christmas Countdown

My hubby and I are about as different as two people can be...and that's part of what has made life interesting.  But when it comes to the holidays, well, it's hard to reconcile the differences.

 

The first year we were married, he offered to help me decorate for Christmas.  Which was really sweet.  He came back to me in less than 30 minutes and asked if I wanted to take a look.

 

I was more than a little shocked.  After all, I've been watching my grandmother decorate her house since I was a little girl and there wasn't a spare space in her home that didn't have a scrap of holly or some kind of Christmas decoration on it.  And that was just the inside of the house!

 

Now, I will admit that our house was a lot smaller than Granny and Poppop's house, but 30 minutes to get out and put up ALL the decorations?

 

My husband was standing proudly by his Christmas tree...still decorated from last year.  (He started the craze of just putting a bag over the tree -lights and decorations and all- and storing it for the next year.)

 

A good wife would have smiled and made it work.   

 

My husband tells the story that he asked "Do you like it?" to which I responded with "Get that THING out of my house!"  (Not exactly how I remember it, but he's a good sport and laughs each time he tells someone the story so we'll go with his version.) 

 

And so for the past 17 years, we've gone each year to pick out a "real" Christmas tree.  I love the smell of the pine in the house and since neither he nor my daughter are into decorating, I get to put the whole tree together myself!

 

And that's part of what this season is all about...making memories.  So be sure to take time each day as you count down to Christmas Day to do something memorable.  Bake cookies, read a favorite book, watch the Christmas specials on TV with all the commercials (like we did when we were kids), make a favorite meal, decorate the table each night for dinner, make a special breakfast...simplicity makes for memorable moments.