Bendable Branches.

We always had a real tree growing up. At least that's what I remember. One year we re-wrote the old carol after paying inflated prices for a half dead evergreen. My dad whined, so we sang about it.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

You cost us twenty dollars.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

We could've bought some collars.

For dee o gee...who likes to pee...upon the tree...oh my oh me.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

You cost us twenty dollars!!

That was back in the 80's. When 20 bucks was too much money for a tree; and before mom's glass ornaments. And yes...our dog's name was d.o.g. Dee.Oh.Gee. Emphasis on the Oh. He did indeed pee on our tree. Too many times.

Conan and I cut down our own Christmas tree at a farm for the first 5 or 6 years of our marriage. I don't actually remember what made us decide to buy the fake pre-lit wonder. I think it was the 75% off sale at Sears. I kind of miss hiking around in the cold with a saw and a toddler searching for the perfect tick free tree, but I can appreciate being able to bend the branches of our 8 footer so the light reflects just right off Conan's elmer's glue kindergarten ornament. Or so I can see Joey 2005 written in black sharpie on the tail of the green dinosaur.

It is all about the ornaments.

Conan is very nostalgic. He liked flashing blinking color lights. I liked still and constant white lights. So we compromised. Still and consant color lights. I would buy a new tree topper every year, trying to create the moment when Conan would look at our tree and sigh with deep satisfaction. He tried to like my toppers...but just didn't. Then one year, after an extensive tree topper hunt, he admitted he was looking for one like his mom had. An old blue-green finial topper.

So I asked Kay if I could buy hers. For the sake of Christmas.

She said no. Acutally, she said no way.

That Christmas, under his parents tree, was an identical old blue-green finial topper for Conan. She had searched and found one on ebay.

Deep satisfaction.

My mom's tatted snowflakes.

The broken glass stars.

The pipe cleaner spiders that made Joey cry.

The twig reindeer.

The clothespin reindeer.

The popsicle stick reindeer.

They can hang on fake branches all they want.

I will always treasure my alone time with our Sear's tree. Staring at the years and the minutes of memories being cradled by its wire branches. Captured in its still and constant lights are my family. And they'll be there next year. And the year after that. And the year after that.

And I can bend them any way I want.