Recently Baby Sister asked if I was going to decorate my apartment for Christmas. My reply was, "Probably not." It was typical of my cynical, self-pitying reactions, I know. But, hey. When you are abysmally poor, reside alone, and have very few visitors what IS the point of hauling out all the holiday memorabilia? But then I saw these during a Saturday blog trolling session:
I adore these aluminum tinselly Christmas trees. The Bungaard family had the first one I ever saw and I was instantly enchanted. They decorated the way "you were supposed to." All one color, ball shaped ornaments with the tree illuminated by a color wheel. Green, yellow, red rotated. Wow!!
The year my grandparents switched created a ripple of scandal. Tradition reigns supreme, or did, in my family. Secretly I thought they (actually my grandmother herself) were pretty daring. Who knew the true motivation and I surely never asked. The ritual of a real tree may have become too much for them. The justification of "that real tree smell" may have faded in validity. I thought the sparkly tree was cool. However, they decorated it the way you "were not supposed to." All the old, regular ornaments and no color wheel. Although I might be wrong about the color wheel. I thought, at the time, that the other way, the Bungaard way, the approved rule way, was hipper, cooler, and somehow better.
I was wrong. I have one ornament from my grandparents' tree. Mommy Dearest gave it to me a few seasons ago. Without a doubt it is one of my most treasured possessions. If I had an aluminum tree I might consider bedecking my halls. But I do not really have halls and I do not have space for even a teeny non-sparkly tree. I might unpack that ornament just for myself. Tis the season eh?
The year my grandparents switched created a ripple of scandal. Tradition reigns supreme, or did, in my family. Secretly I thought they (actually my grandmother herself) were pretty daring. Who knew the true motivation and I surely never asked. The ritual of a real tree may have become too much for them. The justification of "that real tree smell" may have faded in validity. I thought the sparkly tree was cool. However, they decorated it the way you "were not supposed to." All the old, regular ornaments and no color wheel. Although I might be wrong about the color wheel. I thought, at the time, that the other way, the Bungaard way, the approved rule way, was hipper, cooler, and somehow better.
I was wrong. I have one ornament from my grandparents' tree. Mommy Dearest gave it to me a few seasons ago. Without a doubt it is one of my most treasured possessions. If I had an aluminum tree I might consider bedecking my halls. But I do not really have halls and I do not have space for even a teeny non-sparkly tree. I might unpack that ornament just for myself. Tis the season eh?
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