The Long and Short of it

We start with the long. Long and lanky #6 child - Chelane came over to help dear old Dad put up The Christmas Tree. Come to think of it, the tree is kind of long and lanky by itself. Weighing in at over 400 lbs. and about 15' tall (counting the angel), it is the tallest tree I have ever seen in a home. Even some of the homes I worked on in Park City didn't have trees this big ... and they could afford to have Modern Display come over and set them up for them. Of course, most of the owners were Jewish. That could have something to do with it.

We love our tree. We love the feeling that comes into our home when we set it up - correction - after we have set it up. There is usually a period of wailing and gnashing of teeth as we struggle to haul it in from the garage where it resides most of the year in three specially made coffin sized boxes. This is usually followed by several profane epithets when we discover that several sections of lights (it has about 4000) have failed to light again this year. This year we were lucky - we planned ahead at Chelane's request since she is so short on time, and got the replacement lights ready. We didn't need them this year. Only about 30 lights failed to work and we know about where the short is located. We decided to hide that section at the back of the tree.

The short of it comes with Janene. Her efforts to decorate the tree this year will probably be limited to the height of a third grader's reach. The most important ornaments go at the bottom of the tree each year. These are the ornaments the kids love. They love to touch rattle and tweak all the ornaments they can reach. We just remember to put the irreplaceable Russian ornaments on the top and leave Neil Armstrong in his space suit down low. "Houston - Tranquility Base here...." The decorating will be a little slower this year, but it will get done. I promise.