So Sparkling! So Glamorous!By Day
By Night
Even this sort of Charlie Brown-ish Ikea tree was better than...
...this sad abomination of a pine tree.
This Christmas Sign for the local Butcher pretty well sums up the Australian Xmas.
If you are fortunate enough not to know personally what Christmas brings out in me, then count yourself lucky. I am told that my enthusiasm can wear a normal person down pretty quickly. Waiting until the day after Thanksgiving is all the self-control I have. I always use that Friday to put up the tree. I can't put into words how sorely I miss going to the Christmas Tree lot, especially my Christmas lot off of 15th ave. in Seattle. Tasmania has a 'self-seeding, fast growing pine'. I would argue that it isn't even in the same family as the pine trees that grow in N. America, trust me when I state that this is not the same sort of disappointment one would find when they had to get a blue spruce instead of a douglas fir. The boy scouts here sell them, but not until about a week before Xmas, there is also this prevalent idea that having a real tree in the house will attract ants, and each year some acquaintance would mention (kindly) that I should put some bleach in the water. The pine is also only vaguely fragrant and try as I might I couldn't wire together any sort of garland.
I suppose what finally broke me was the fact that around Christmas the sun is setting at 10 p.m. and rising at 5 a.m., so Christmas lights are anti-climatic. There is no 'staving off the darkness' with fairy lights and candles in the window. The feeling for me is 4th of July, BBQ with nicer decorations.
The solution to my Christmas tree problems came to me here, over 8,000 miles away from the likely location of the item I wanted. I had decided that an aluminum tree would be perfect, it would sparkle in the sunlight, with no need for the additional heat of lights. I had been turning my nose up for years at various flea markets only to be now at the mercy of Ebay. Basically, we paid the price of a normal artificial tree which is not bad, but it also was not a bargain. I had to buy the tree off season, so by now I have suppressed the price all together not that any price would have dampened my spirits as I listened to over six hours of Christmas music, decorating, dancing, and drinking Pina Coladas which somehow has become my Australian Xmas decorating drink of choice. I think that started because there were bottles of rum in the liquor closet, and continued because, well it is the start of summer and I can drink them through green and red bendy straws.
Plus, you know, fresh fruit in a drink equals meal.
Zok is so over me.
The bright side of that might be that if he was like me when it comes to holidays, we'd be one of those houses that is commonly referred to by other residents as 'the holiday house'. I think you know what I mean.
I suppose what finally broke me was the fact that around Christmas the sun is setting at 10 p.m. and rising at 5 a.m., so Christmas lights are anti-climatic. There is no 'staving off the darkness' with fairy lights and candles in the window. The feeling for me is 4th of July, BBQ with nicer decorations.
The solution to my Christmas tree problems came to me here, over 8,000 miles away from the likely location of the item I wanted. I had decided that an aluminum tree would be perfect, it would sparkle in the sunlight, with no need for the additional heat of lights. I had been turning my nose up for years at various flea markets only to be now at the mercy of Ebay. Basically, we paid the price of a normal artificial tree which is not bad, but it also was not a bargain. I had to buy the tree off season, so by now I have suppressed the price all together not that any price would have dampened my spirits as I listened to over six hours of Christmas music, decorating, dancing, and drinking Pina Coladas which somehow has become my Australian Xmas decorating drink of choice. I think that started because there were bottles of rum in the liquor closet, and continued because, well it is the start of summer and I can drink them through green and red bendy straws.
Plus, you know, fresh fruit in a drink equals meal.
Zok is so over me.
The bright side of that might be that if he was like me when it comes to holidays, we'd be one of those houses that is commonly referred to by other residents as 'the holiday house'. I think you know what I mean.
1 comment:
6 hours of Xmas music??? don't do that to yourself!! :P
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