Thursday, December 18, 2008

December has always been a defining month in my life. My two sisters shared back to back birthdays. My parents had their wedding anniversary. It was Christmas with all the anticipation and joy.
When I was a little kid, my dad was an elementary school principal. One of the perks of being the principal was that when school let out for the Christmas break, we got the choice of the best Christmas tree in the school, as our own family tree. (All of these trees had probably been cut in September in Oregon, sat in tree lot in Kansas in 75 degree weather and then put into 21 classrooms during the first week of December.) After being decorated with items made by each class and filled in with tinsel strands, they were abandoned about the 21st of December. My Dad would cull through these trees before they were hauled off to the lake to become fish habitat and bring home the very best one!! Then he would strap the tree onto the carrier on top of our station wagon and tinsel flying, we would drive the 12 hours to our grandparents in Fort Worth, TX. Our very tired but game tree then would be erected at Mamaw's and Papaw's house in time for our family Christmas Eve. Heaven.
s