Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen . . . For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. –Jeremiah 10:2-6
Not only is Christmas tree decorating a vain, heathen tradition; every year, the same thing happens. Sweetest Girl, inheritor the nostalgia gene from… not me, gets ahead of her mom and starts decorating the tree. A couple days later, Husband, a fellow possessor of aforementioned gene, queries, “Lynn?? Could you fix the tree, so the bead strands hang nicer, and the ornaments aren’t all bunched together?” (Groan. In order to rehang the bead strands, you have to pull all 30 feet of it off the tree and start from scratch. Same deal with most of the ornaments. Bah. Humbug.)
“Oh, yeah. I guess it *does* look a little thrown together,” I sport cheerfully, having *just noticed* the Christmas tree from You-know-where.
Actually, I was hoping to celebrate Festivus this year. (You know, Festivus for the Rest of Us?) Did you know that lots of people still observe Festivus? It’s no wonder when I look at *their* tree.
You may remember that the festivus pole is a “simple, lusterless metal pole that takes the place of the garish Christmas tree. It is not to be adorned in any way; especially tinsel, which is “distracting.” The tree symbolizes nothing.”
So, you couldn’t hang beads on it if you wanted to. And, I wouldn’t.
posted by Lynn (lacking proper respect for all things nostalgic)
[...] We are really feeling the holiday spirit chez Schmidt. We put up the Christmas tree (sorry, no Festivus pole), the boys are making ornaments and decorating, we hung the stockings by the chimney with care. [...]
[...] We are really feeling the holiday spirit chez Schmidt. We put up the Christmas tree (sorry, no Festivus pole), the boys are making ornaments and decorating, we hung the stockings by the chimney with care. [...]