The Great Tree

Every little kid plays make believe at some point or another. Its pretty much a given fact. And there are any number of ways in which they will achieve this. Some will pretend they are sports stars. Some will pretend they are teachers. Some will even pretend they are animals. And some kids, kids like my sister and myself, will pretend their Christmas Ornaments are living breathing creatures with a destiny.

Yes this is a true story of bravery, valor and adventure. And no, I am not kidding. If the ornaments didn't take the long journey from my parents coffee table to THE GREAT TREE (also known by everyday average people as a so-called "Christmas Tree")how were they going to enjoy the month of December as Christmas decorations? And more importantly, how were they going to keep an eye on my Christmas presents? (We all know the elves try to steal presents when Santa isn't looking).

So my sister and I came to the conclusion that OUR Christmas ornnments deserved much better than a simple tree hanging. They deserved an adventure! To begin we would pile all the ornaments onto the coffee table. Then, depending on the year we would create some sort of story line that would involve an angel visitng the townsfolk at night warning them of a great disaster and encouraging them to make the trip to the Great Tree where they could finally rest at ease. Naturally we had sevreal ornaments who we used as leaders. These ornaments, the wise and mysterious unicorn, the warm and experienced kitten and several others took on the responsibility of transporting the entire town safely through dangerous mountain ranges (the stairs), intimidating forests (our parent's fake plants), and lastly the cliffs of insanity (the kitchen counters). Like any great journey there were a few casualities (which our parents were none to pleased about) but the majority of the ornaments reached the welcoming branches of the Great Tree without harm. The adventure was full of heartache (Mickey and Minnie usually had some sort of falling out) romance (Barbie usually managed to find a man), and intrigue (sometimes non-ornaments would make an appearance). Needless to say, getting a dog in middle school threw a whole new element into the mix as the ornaments had to avoid being crushed by the large and ferocious beast. And yes I just admitted that we did this well into middle school. Stop judging!

Once the ornaments reached the Great Tree they had to decide where to be placed. This was important because certain ornaments could not be next to each other or fighting would ensue -and the Great Tree is too busy shining brightly and full of Christmas cheer to have that kind of a distraction. So it was up to my sister and I to make sure that everyone was placed appropriately and in a spot condusive to the zen like quality we wanted the tree to maintain.

I like to say we did a good job- as every year our tree looked beautiful and even though its admirers had no idea the trials and tribulations it took to make the tree look just so, they appreciated it all the same.

The lesson is this, next time you are putting your tree up consider how your ornaments feel. Just because they can't talk (without your help) doesn't mean they aren't important.

How will you hand YOUR ornaments this year?!