[Magdalen] Christmas Trees

[Scott Knitter]

We used to order a tree from Upper Michigan and our handsome UPS man
would deliver it.

This year my partner assumed I'm rabidly against all things Christmas
and angrily complained a couple of weeks ago that he's tired of
fighting against this. I thought I was doing better this year by not
complaining about the holidays as much.

But our finances do make it difficult to justify some spending, and
I'm not sad not to have a tree. I'd just like to get credit for better
behavior. One of these years I'll stop feeling like such an outsider
who no longer "gets" the usual Christmas necessities and feels alone
in that. It's something everyone else does and loves. I'm OK with that
until someone comes along and gives me the "Aw, come on!" treatment. I
hope I've prepared for that and won't bristle too much.

Looking forward to church in the morning, and then Monday. The party
tomorrow could be quite fun, although I feel like we always go
shorthanded in terms of gifts...I'd like not to receive any. But "Aw,
come on! It's Christmas!"

On Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 1:03 PM, Susan Hagen <susanvhagen at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a table top sized iron ornament tree that looks like bare tree
> branches.  I always hang the Jesse Tree ornaments a friend painted for
> me.  Some years I switch them on Christmas Day to my Peaceable Kingdom
> ornaments.  These started as just cats and birds but now span most of
> the food chain.  I don't think I'm going to bother this year.  I do
> need to get the small lighted ceramic tree up from the basement.
>
> Tonight I will put the baby in the creche.  The wise men are still in
> a distant land (the dining room) with their small wooden casket that
> has real frankincense and myrrh chunks in it.
>
> Susan
>
> On Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 11:52 AM, Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:
>> I had one of those sweet Martha Stewart trees for years (artificial snow, a
>> few berries, pre-lit); some years I put on ornaments, some years I didn't.
>> For the last few years I've had one of those small, slim, urn-contained,
>> pre-lit ones.  The lights on top died, but I replaced them with my own
>> string, and just yesterday I brought it down from the attic.  No ornaments,
>> unless I get hit with some kind of holiday fever that has eluded me so
>> far.  Now I've got to go fill the bird feeder and give the birds a merry
>> Christmas Eve.
>>
>>
>> Ann
>>
>> The Rev. Ann Markle
>> Buffalo, NY
>> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 10:27 AM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>
>>> Sadly, the slim pre-lit Christmas tree that had served for about 25 years
>>> ended up in the pre-move dumpster, ultimately the victim of too much
>>> manhandling.  I got a Martha Stewart tree from Home Depot last year, no
>>> sample on display, and it is exactly right for the space and ease of
>>> storage.  Archie likes to nibble on the frosty sparkle .... hasn't made him
>>> sick.  All the tree ornaments either went off with Kevin, the miraculous
>>> handyman/friend, or into the dumpster.  Too late I realized that the few
>>> really sentimental ornaments had been tossed, too.  Oh well, it's only
>>> things ....  This tree is prelit and pretty and needs no further adornment,
>>> I tell myself.
>>>
>>> What a state of poorly-suppressed hysteria I was in during that whole
>>> business!  I am more grateful than words can express for my new life and
>>> metaphysical state.
>>>
>>> Marion, a pilgrim   ... today my sail I lift ....
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
> --
> The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among
> you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the
> land of Egypt.
> Leviticus 19:34



-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA