And the tree decision was....
This just in: the children of the Homesick Home had a special election tonight, and voted to leave the Christmas tree up until New Year`s day. The toy nativity set, however, was put away, because, in their words, "Jesus` birthday is over." Sorry, Jesus, you only get one special day, just like other mortals.
I was actually hoping they would want to do it even sooner, because I bought a live tree in a pot, and I`m sure it doesn`t like being inside. It needs to last one more year in order for me to get my money`s worth, so I will be watering it carefully for the next 11 months.
When I was a child, we assembled and decorated a tree that consisted of plastic branches stuck into a pole, which was stored in the cellar the rest of the year. For me, the scent of Christmas was musty and dusty. One year, my mother asked my father to go buy some scented spray, and he came back with floral scent instead of pine, because it was on sale, so our tree then smelled like a toilet after a polite person used it.
After a childhood of that, I wanted to have nothing but real trees. However, when it came down to it, I chickened out. There`s something sad about chopping down a tree that took years to grow, just to stick in your living room for a few weeks and then throw away. So we`ve always had trees in pots, starting out with a little rosemary tree in Los Angeles after Big Son was born, and moving up to a little pine tree.
Then we moved to Tokyo and decorated a potted evergreen shub that started out small but was enormous by the time we left -- I had to cut the top off it last year to make if fit on the bay windowsill of our new apartment. It lived on our balcony the rest of the year. I don`t know what it was, exactly -- I think it was some kind of cedar, but certainly not a pine or a fir. It was truly a shrub, and I had trouble keeping it Christmas-tree shaped. Because our balcony was enclosed and the lower branches never got any light, they soon dwindled to sticks, while the top half thrived. I planted rosemary around the bottom -- the smell reminded me of our first Christmas tree, and it grew like a weed and filled in the bare spaces.
This year, Big Son asked Hub, "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you`re not a Christian?"
Excellent question, Big Son! I figured when I married an Asian that I would be off the hook as far as Christmas, and that my only holiday duty would be taking the expensive bullet train to Kyoto and sitting around in my in-laws` ancient, dusty, freezing house for a few days, venturing out in the bonechilling cold only to trek to a shrine on New Year`s day and burn some incense and pray. Yeah, yeah, I had to do all that -- but Hub wanted Christmas, too.
Because Hub is not a Christian, he has embraced the pure commercial aspects of the holiday, unfettered by any guilt about the true meaning, blah blah blah. Christmas is pretty decorations! Presents! Parties! Eat, drink and be merry! Jesus who?
So Hub told Big Son, "Because I like it."
Hub is glad we`re keeping the tree up longer, and I think he will be the saddest of everyone when I finally take it down.
I was actually hoping they would want to do it even sooner, because I bought a live tree in a pot, and I`m sure it doesn`t like being inside. It needs to last one more year in order for me to get my money`s worth, so I will be watering it carefully for the next 11 months.
When I was a child, we assembled and decorated a tree that consisted of plastic branches stuck into a pole, which was stored in the cellar the rest of the year. For me, the scent of Christmas was musty and dusty. One year, my mother asked my father to go buy some scented spray, and he came back with floral scent instead of pine, because it was on sale, so our tree then smelled like a toilet after a polite person used it.
After a childhood of that, I wanted to have nothing but real trees. However, when it came down to it, I chickened out. There`s something sad about chopping down a tree that took years to grow, just to stick in your living room for a few weeks and then throw away. So we`ve always had trees in pots, starting out with a little rosemary tree in Los Angeles after Big Son was born, and moving up to a little pine tree.
Then we moved to Tokyo and decorated a potted evergreen shub that started out small but was enormous by the time we left -- I had to cut the top off it last year to make if fit on the bay windowsill of our new apartment. It lived on our balcony the rest of the year. I don`t know what it was, exactly -- I think it was some kind of cedar, but certainly not a pine or a fir. It was truly a shrub, and I had trouble keeping it Christmas-tree shaped. Because our balcony was enclosed and the lower branches never got any light, they soon dwindled to sticks, while the top half thrived. I planted rosemary around the bottom -- the smell reminded me of our first Christmas tree, and it grew like a weed and filled in the bare spaces.
This year, Big Son asked Hub, "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you`re not a Christian?"
Excellent question, Big Son! I figured when I married an Asian that I would be off the hook as far as Christmas, and that my only holiday duty would be taking the expensive bullet train to Kyoto and sitting around in my in-laws` ancient, dusty, freezing house for a few days, venturing out in the bonechilling cold only to trek to a shrine on New Year`s day and burn some incense and pray. Yeah, yeah, I had to do all that -- but Hub wanted Christmas, too.
Because Hub is not a Christian, he has embraced the pure commercial aspects of the holiday, unfettered by any guilt about the true meaning, blah blah blah. Christmas is pretty decorations! Presents! Parties! Eat, drink and be merry! Jesus who?
So Hub told Big Son, "Because I like it."
Hub is glad we`re keeping the tree up longer, and I think he will be the saddest of everyone when I finally take it down.
posted by L. at 8:47 PM
6 Comments:
I just remembered. We sprayed the fake tree with pine scent one year. It smelled like one of those pine tree shaped fresheners people use in cars. And we couldn't get rid of the smell. Awful.
That may have been the same year we propped it up with a rat tailed comb for the missing leg.
lol...isn't it amazing how fraught these holiday decisions can be? I don't remember these debates and elections from when I was growing up...was it a simpler time or did my parents (one lapsed christian and one jewish-born atheist) just wait until I was in bed to fight it out?
We took our (horrible plastic) tree down today, because, as my three-year-old pointed out, 'it's dead' (most of the lights had burned out). And while I'm glad to have that corner of my family room back, I'm a little sad that the tree is gone.
We didnt do a tree this year, havent in years, decided it would far too much of a hassel with the crazy baby around. I have instead lived through all of you guys.
I love your Childrens reasoning to what goes and what stays.
...he has embraced the pure commercial aspects of the holiday, unfettered by any guilt about the true meaning, blah blah blah. Christmas is pretty decorations! Presents! Parties! Eat, drink and be merry! Jesus who?
As far as I can make out, that's how most North Americans approach it, including those who should know better. (Was it you I ranted on to about the churches that cancelled services on Christmas Day so that people could have their "family time"?)
Why do you celebrate Christmas if you're not a Christian, your son asks? He's wise little boy!
I have to disagree with Mary P's statement. According to a poll taken last year taken together with other demographic information, over 70 percent of people in the U.S. alone identified themselves as Christians. So I casting a little doubt that "most" people would actually say "Jesus who?" on Christmas
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