Thy leaves are so unchanging, not only green when summer's here but also when 'tis cold and drear.
Mum and I decorated the Christmas tree last night. Our family is kind of weird in that we wait so long to get a tree up, but that's due to the fact that Dave's birthday is the 18th, and we don't get all the Christmas decorations and everything going until after that. My best guess as to a reason why this is so is that it's a way to delinate between the two occasions or something.
Our tree is a little bit of a Charlie Brown one this year. It was Jewels who pointed out that it was crooked, and childhood emotional trauma I didn't even know I was still packing resurfaced.
Have any of you read the children's book "The Little Crooked Christmas Tree"? It's the story of this little tree on a Christmas tree farm who is trying to figure out exactly what Christmas is, and what Christmas trees are. He asks this of every animal who passes by, and none can give him a real answer. Then, there's this huge storm. A dove and her children are being blown around like crazy, and the tree shelters them by bending his branches to create a safe little space. In sheltering the dove and her children this way, the little tree ends up growing crooked. People walk by the tree and are all, "Oh, this tree is crooked! It's no good!" and other such sentiments. It's heartbreaking -- because the tree made that kind of sacrifice, it's considered bad, and is shunned. It can never be a Christmas tree. The tree asks the dove why he's no good anymore, and the dove tells him about what Christmas trees really are -- temporary. They are cut down, they get decorated with all these pretty lights and whatnot for a week or two, and they get thrown out. She explains that by protecting her and her family, the tree is safe, though it'll be crooked forever.
I swear, my eyes are watering even as I type this.
It ends hapilly, of course -- the tree is dug up (since it can't be a Christmas tree) and is taken to a new home off the tree farm, and is planted, and ends up getting to be a Christmas tree year after year after year. Despite the very sweet ending, this book is TRAGIC, guys. It was read to me by a teacher back in elementary school, and I think each and every kid in that classroom was ready to bawl by the end. Jewels mentioning the words "crooked Christmas tree" just brought that all back and I actually started weeping. Jewels had been read the book too, and when she realized it, we were both sobbing like babies. We made it better by enjoying the second part of the 'Alice' miniseries together with coffee.
I still have to get down to the library today to go get 'Lord of the Flies', and am considering trying to find this book as Dave didn't understand when Jewels and I were trying to explain. According to the search on the local library website though, my library doens't have a copy of that book. It's probably for the best that way. I'd read it again, and embarass myself in front of everyone at the library.
And clearly, there was no real point to this entry other than a prelude to Christmas and exposure to one particularly traumatic aspect of my childhood. A happier Christmas entry will be on the way. Swear. For now, I'm going to go have a little more coffee, eat something, get myself cleaned up, and get my ass on the bus to go run errands before work tonight.
Our tree is a little bit of a Charlie Brown one this year. It was Jewels who pointed out that it was crooked, and childhood emotional trauma I didn't even know I was still packing resurfaced.
Have any of you read the children's book "The Little Crooked Christmas Tree"? It's the story of this little tree on a Christmas tree farm who is trying to figure out exactly what Christmas is, and what Christmas trees are. He asks this of every animal who passes by, and none can give him a real answer. Then, there's this huge storm. A dove and her children are being blown around like crazy, and the tree shelters them by bending his branches to create a safe little space. In sheltering the dove and her children this way, the little tree ends up growing crooked. People walk by the tree and are all, "Oh, this tree is crooked! It's no good!" and other such sentiments. It's heartbreaking -- because the tree made that kind of sacrifice, it's considered bad, and is shunned. It can never be a Christmas tree. The tree asks the dove why he's no good anymore, and the dove tells him about what Christmas trees really are -- temporary. They are cut down, they get decorated with all these pretty lights and whatnot for a week or two, and they get thrown out. She explains that by protecting her and her family, the tree is safe, though it'll be crooked forever.
I swear, my eyes are watering even as I type this.
It ends hapilly, of course -- the tree is dug up (since it can't be a Christmas tree) and is taken to a new home off the tree farm, and is planted, and ends up getting to be a Christmas tree year after year after year. Despite the very sweet ending, this book is TRAGIC, guys. It was read to me by a teacher back in elementary school, and I think each and every kid in that classroom was ready to bawl by the end. Jewels mentioning the words "crooked Christmas tree" just brought that all back and I actually started weeping. Jewels had been read the book too, and when she realized it, we were both sobbing like babies. We made it better by enjoying the second part of the 'Alice' miniseries together with coffee.
I still have to get down to the library today to go get 'Lord of the Flies', and am considering trying to find this book as Dave didn't understand when Jewels and I were trying to explain. According to the search on the local library website though, my library doens't have a copy of that book. It's probably for the best that way. I'd read it again, and embarass myself in front of everyone at the library.
And clearly, there was no real point to this entry other than a prelude to Christmas and exposure to one particularly traumatic aspect of my childhood. A happier Christmas entry will be on the way. Swear. For now, I'm going to go have a little more coffee, eat something, get myself cleaned up, and get my ass on the bus to go run errands before work tonight.