Tree Trimming

I had friends in on Saturday night for my annual 'Watch Me Trim the Tree' party. It sounds kind of horrible, but actually started out innocently enough: a few years ago, friends were in the middle of a renovation and were not putting up a Christmas tree. But they were missing out on the Christmas-y feeling, so the night I put up my tree and installed the ridiculous number of clear glass ornaments I've collected over the years, I invited them over.

Each ornament I would pull out, I would exclaim over. "This one's my favourite!" and Lovely Pete would good-naturedly reply, "I can see why," So, now, we have several couples over, their children, too and I try not to freak out when the kids handle my fragile ornaments with less care than I might like.

Adults are allowed only to eat and drink, not hang the decorations, and they don't seem to mind.

But Sunday morning, as I cleared away the debris of the party, I realized there was something missing from my tree: there were no presents under it!

I had managed, by December 12th, to purchase just one lonely, sad little present, and I had picked it up in July!

Oh, I had lists. Ideas. Dreams. But nothing to wrap. So, on a slippery and snowy Sunday and Monday, I spent my days and my Christmas budget in one fell swoop.

Well, almost. There is still one aunt, one niece and a nephew whose prezzies I can't decide on. But the tree looks great, with twinkling sparkling stuff above and below.