Christmas: Bearing down like a freight train

Sisters, one blonde and one brunette, were a common theme in
 Victorian Christmas ephemera. As it happens,  that's exactly
what my daughters are, so I collect them. 

The familiar journalists' claim that they write better under pressure is pure bunk. The truth is, for many of us, it's the only way we start writing, when the deadline is breathing down our necks like Malificent in her more reptilian form.

My students say that same thing, and when they turn in papers that get returned with a big fat "C", they understand that working on deadline isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Our nine-foot Noble fir. 

The deadline for this blog is self-imposed, but I take it very seriously, and the fact that I haven't posted for a couple of weeks makes me sad. No one pays me, so I can't get in trouble for blowing my deadline, but I appreciate that people read it and expect it to be here on Sundays.

I have had two weeks of a killer cold, giving finals, grading papers, and posting grades, along with a previously scheduled all-day outing with Charles Phoenix, and I just couldn't make time to blog.

Truth be told, I shouldn't be blogging now. My apartment is a gawd-awful mess, my daughter and her husband are coming to stay with us tomorrow, and I'm not finished shopping. But I've realized something, that writing isn't something I do for other people; I actually love to do it, and I've missed it.

So, now I am ready to take on the last deadline of 2011 — Christmas. Oh, I know what you're saying, I only have four days left, I'd better hurry, what was I thinking, etc.

But we do have a tree, and thanks to my husband, we actually got some cards out. He went out and bought them, wrote thoughtful notes in each one, and all I had to do was sign my name. He's a God-send, really. Then, determined to wrestle Christmas to the ground, he insisted we go out and get our tree.

The big fight every year would be
who got to hang the ballerina.

As I've written before, Christmas is all about the tree for me. If I had no presents, no turkey, no candy canes, no cookies or eggnog, as long as I had my tree, I would be perfectly happy.  Even though the ritual changes from year to year, the ornaments stay the same.

I love all kinds of holiday trees, and I can appreciate the beauty of trees done in all one color scheme, for example. My favorite one are done in white, crystal and silver, or in all Victorian colors: that combination of burgundy, pink and gold. But when it comes to my house, I want my traditional Noble fir, white lights,  and ornaments I've had and collected for years.

Every year, I buy Hallmark ornaments for my family and one or two for my tree. Hallmark incorporates a lot of pop-culture and historical events into their work, so I have a commemorative Neil Armstrong that hangs on the tree and gives his famous moon landing speech when you press the button.

Near Neil hangs a space shuttle, with the bay doors open. An astronaut hangs overhead, repairing a satellite. My kids think these are dumb, and have nothing to do with Christmas. Maybe not, but I'm the daughter of an aerospace engineer, so I love aviation related things.

The horse actually changes color!

I have multiple Alice in Wonderland ornaments, and Disney features large: Snow White looking into a mirror, Sleeping Beauty's castle, and a 50th anniversary of Disneyland. We used to see the Nutcracker every year, so that is represented in different ways, including a Sugar Plum Fairy that always a point of contention about who got to hang her on the tree.

The Horse of a Different Color with Dorothy and her gang hangs on the tree, and I hear the cabbie from Oz give his spiel every time I plug in the lights. Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara embrace as Atlanta burns in the background, prompting my husband to make this goofy video. 

There are ornaments with my kids' photos in them, and crocheted snowflakes my sister made and stiffened with starch. Some belonged to my parents when they were first married, and I rescued them from the trash when my mother deemed them too tatty for her tree. They are definitely worn, but I love them.

Possibly my favorite is the light-up box office and marquee of a theater playing "It's a Wonderful Life." Another bulb has George and Mary embracing from that final scene.

I guess I should really write down where all these things came from, and whether or not they have special significance. Now I'm getting older, I'm thinking about the stories I want to leave behind. There are so many people who have passed on without me finding out everything I wanted to about them.

Well, I'd better go. You can't see what kind of wood my table is for all the paper covering it, and I've got Christmas errands to run. Have a great holiday, and I'll be seeing you soon. Before you go, leave me a comment and tell me what you favorite Christmas ornament is.