I got the tree put up last night, but upon plugging it in, I found that the “pre-lit” tree now has only one section of lights still working.  Last year, there was only one section that didn’t light up, but now, the poor tree is giving up the ghost.  Additionally, it is not recovering as well from storage this year, after nine years of being stuffed into various and sundry boxes, and most recently, being forced into a large duffel bag after Christmas of 2008. 

PC went to the store and got two strings of colored lights.  The colored lights we bought last year are all burned out but one string.  We found some other lights in the garage and cobbled together extra lighting for our tree.  Next year, says PC, we are getting a real tree. 

I left off many of the decorations we used in the past but the tree is still crowded with ornaments.  This year, I was thrilled to find a Hallmark keepsake ornament that was a tiny replica of the leg lamp from “A Christmas Story.” 

Here is a shot of the tree:

And a couple of favorite ornaments:

This one is called “Helga” and was crafted by a local artist.  I got another one just like it for my dad, who plays the accordion.

And this one, which is so cute.  It’s a mouse on a stack of books, but the titles are all related to cheese.  (“A Tale of Two Cheddars” and “Jonathan Swiss” just to name a couple.)

Rabbit put her ornaments up on the tree before going to bed.  It was a busy night for her:  because I come from a family of German heritage, I’ve decided to carry on the tradition my parents had for us, so tonight we observed the feast of Saint Nicholas, which is celebrated December 6th. 

In our family, we put our shoes outside the front door, and then stayed away from the windows.  Family tradition had it that Saint Nicholas would come by and pounded on all the windows, and if you were naughty enough to try to look out the windows to see him, you would be put in a sack in a tree and swatted with a stick.  This part of the tradition has thankfully been discarded, since it’s obviously a ploy to keep children from looking out the windows to see familiar adults knocking on the windows.

Part of the tradition is that if you have been good, Saint Nicholas would leave goodies in your shoes.  If not, you would get sticks or coal in your shoes.  As kids, we always got peanuts, oranges, and a little Christmas candy. 

This year, Rabbit put her snow boots outside, and we put carrots and an apple inside for the reindeer.

Then she took her shower for the evening, and PC took advantage of the fact that she likes to spend 30 minutes in there belting out songs, and he went to the store for oranges, peanuts in the shell, candy canes and M&Ms.  We stuffed tissue paper into the boots and filled them with treats, and just as Rabbit was finishing her shower, PC hung up his coat, sat on the sofa, and I pounded on the bathroom window and the kitchen window before sneaking back inside.

She was standing in her room, a towel wrapped around her, with eyes as big as salad plates.  After she put on her jammies, she ran to the door and brought in her boots, and of course had to share her loot with us. 

Now she’s in bed asleep and I’m going to sit down on the sofa and look at my Christmas tree while eating chocolate covered cherries before going to bed.  Oh, and it’s snowing outside. 

*sigh*

NOW it’s starting to feel like the holidays.