Christmas is right around the corner
This is something I wrote on July 26th of this year, while taking down the Christmas tree, it just feels like it's time to post it somewhere.
The summer sun of New Mexico bears down on cars and foolish pedestrians alike while I sit indoors wearing a jumper because my
parents have an obsession with keeping the house cold. It's normal procedure to steal blankets from one another at night to stay warm.
Why they want a tundra feel to the house, I couldn't say, but it certainly has me well adjusted to cold weather climes.
Bubble lights clink gently against one another and interrupt my contemplation. That's right, it's time to take down the Christmas
tree. Thankfully it's a fake tree but ever since my family opted for plastic furred trees instead of proper fir trees it's been a constant
contest to see who would crack first. We all love to put it up but we loathe taking it down, not for sentimental reasons but more for the
same reason it's delightful to make cookies but not fun to clean up the mess of making them. Anyone less familiar with the McKinney clan
might cock an eyebrow at our Christmas tree wars but friends are familiar with our tree and regard it very much as part of the
furniture. It actually goes so well with the décor that it almost seems a shame to take it down. It looks very much like Liberace
decorated it, a mass of purple and gold baubles, rainbow ribbons and large sequined knick knacks. My mother's project naturally. My sister,
Kate, is pleased to say that it's the gayest tree there is. We're happy to let her stick to decorating, after her brief stint in writing..fiction. An episode none of us likes to dwell on…
At any rate, the tree is coming down in bits and pieces, thrown back into a large box to lay in wait for all of four months before coming
out of the closet again. Well, the garage anyway. I argued fiercely that taking down the tree was a waste of valuable human resources,
like my chance to hibernate for instance. Finally, a cash deal was brokered and I agreed that the tree would be taken down, if only for
economic gains of around $8.00. A meager amount but it's not a large tree and most kids living at home at 21 probably get ordered to do
things rather than offered payment for doing them.
There are two popular schools of thought against being the one to remove the tree, the "I put it up" school and the "I didn't put it up"
school. The two theories are simple and probably self explanatory but I'm padding out my essay on McKinney family life so the explanation
shall be hashed out anyway. "I put up the tree" believes firmly that having put up the tree and done everyone in the house a favor in doing
so, they shouldn't have to deal with the taking down of the tree. Why should a tree decorating artiste have to deal with the mundane task of
taking it down? "I didn't put the tree up" relies on the argument that there was no call to put the tree up in the first place
and because they didn't want it, why should they have to take it down? It's a bit of sham since we all know we love the tree but it works
well enough. It's also a risky school of thought for the reason that if everyone in the house adopted that attitude the tree would never
get put up in the first place, but someone usually cracks and puts it up. The "I didn't put the tree up" idea is a pleasantly familiar one.
It has the ring of people revolting against public works of art the city puts up with tax payer money. Las Crucens will be acquainted with
the large plastic Art Deco palm trees at the corner of Missouri and Espina. Whose art project was that and who thought it deserved the
funding? Of course, we can rest assured that we probably didn't spend as much money on it as the city of Dublin spent on the spire. For
those who don't know what the spire is, ask Wikipedia or an Irish person.
Back at the McKinney house, there's a certain amount of sadness, not just because the tree has been laid to temporary rest, but because we finally removed the fairy lights from the outside of the house. *sigh* I still remember putting them up. Three years ago. I suppose it's for
the best that they've been taken down now though. They were beginning to be a collection of bare wires rather than a string of fairy lights.
Anyway, I need the money and the tree needs the rest, so it's back to dismantling it I go.
PS: Boyfriend continues to be awesome.
The summer sun of New Mexico bears down on cars and foolish pedestrians alike while I sit indoors wearing a jumper because my
parents have an obsession with keeping the house cold. It's normal procedure to steal blankets from one another at night to stay warm.
Why they want a tundra feel to the house, I couldn't say, but it certainly has me well adjusted to cold weather climes.
Bubble lights clink gently against one another and interrupt my contemplation. That's right, it's time to take down the Christmas
tree. Thankfully it's a fake tree but ever since my family opted for plastic furred trees instead of proper fir trees it's been a constant
contest to see who would crack first. We all love to put it up but we loathe taking it down, not for sentimental reasons but more for the
same reason it's delightful to make cookies but not fun to clean up the mess of making them. Anyone less familiar with the McKinney clan
might cock an eyebrow at our Christmas tree wars but friends are familiar with our tree and regard it very much as part of the
furniture. It actually goes so well with the décor that it almost seems a shame to take it down. It looks very much like Liberace
decorated it, a mass of purple and gold baubles, rainbow ribbons and large sequined knick knacks. My mother's project naturally. My sister,
Kate, is pleased to say that it's the gayest tree there is. We're happy to let her stick to decorating, after her brief stint in writing..fiction. An episode none of us likes to dwell on…
At any rate, the tree is coming down in bits and pieces, thrown back into a large box to lay in wait for all of four months before coming
out of the closet again. Well, the garage anyway. I argued fiercely that taking down the tree was a waste of valuable human resources,
like my chance to hibernate for instance. Finally, a cash deal was brokered and I agreed that the tree would be taken down, if only for
economic gains of around $8.00. A meager amount but it's not a large tree and most kids living at home at 21 probably get ordered to do
things rather than offered payment for doing them.
There are two popular schools of thought against being the one to remove the tree, the "I put it up" school and the "I didn't put it up"
school. The two theories are simple and probably self explanatory but I'm padding out my essay on McKinney family life so the explanation
shall be hashed out anyway. "I put up the tree" believes firmly that having put up the tree and done everyone in the house a favor in doing
so, they shouldn't have to deal with the taking down of the tree. Why should a tree decorating artiste have to deal with the mundane task of
taking it down? "I didn't put the tree up" relies on the argument that there was no call to put the tree up in the first place
and because they didn't want it, why should they have to take it down? It's a bit of sham since we all know we love the tree but it works
well enough. It's also a risky school of thought for the reason that if everyone in the house adopted that attitude the tree would never
get put up in the first place, but someone usually cracks and puts it up. The "I didn't put the tree up" idea is a pleasantly familiar one.
It has the ring of people revolting against public works of art the city puts up with tax payer money. Las Crucens will be acquainted with
the large plastic Art Deco palm trees at the corner of Missouri and Espina. Whose art project was that and who thought it deserved the
funding? Of course, we can rest assured that we probably didn't spend as much money on it as the city of Dublin spent on the spire. For
those who don't know what the spire is, ask Wikipedia or an Irish person.
Back at the McKinney house, there's a certain amount of sadness, not just because the tree has been laid to temporary rest, but because we finally removed the fairy lights from the outside of the house. *sigh* I still remember putting them up. Three years ago. I suppose it's for
the best that they've been taken down now though. They were beginning to be a collection of bare wires rather than a string of fairy lights.
Anyway, I need the money and the tree needs the rest, so it's back to dismantling it I go.
PS: Boyfriend continues to be awesome.