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I hate to admit this, but I have not yet put up a Christmas tree this year. I used to go hog wild and decorate an 8-foot tree, but since my husband doesn't lend a hand (he's Jewish), I decided several years ago that decorating 50-some trees in my life is enough. So I picked up a four-foot artificial tree at Target, complete with lights, and now even that is too much work to assemble. Which means I've resigned myself to the fact that we will most likely have no tree at all this year.
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22 Comments on What Would Happen if We Ignored the Calendar and Holidays?
After hitting the "submit" button for my comment... it just hit me that I personally have not bothered to put up a tree for quite a few years. I now live alone... and honestly, it just did not seem worth all the bother. I have one daughter who has been out on her own or years... and she was really the one I had the tree up for in the first place... all those years.
Elizabeth
It's Christmas time? I hope you have a great vacation. Whether it is a festival of lights or Christmas rest assured others know how giving you are all year.
Sincerely
Tom Braatz
Elizabeth - I believe so long as you're with family, friends and other loved ones, a Christmas tree or Hanukah decorations are irrelevant.
Forget the commerical aspect of the holidays and focus on what's really important - people!
Have a great vacation!
The energy it takes to put up an maintain the holiday scene is energy that I could better use else where. That coconutdrink in the tropics sure sounds inviting. Have a great trip, Aloha
Elizabeth - Being at the beach at Christmas time sounds wonderful to me. We'll probably be shivering over here...Think of us while you're soaking up those rays, will you? :)
Elizabeth: My holiday decorating has diminished over the last few years....primarily due to the cats. The first Christmas we had the kittens (two at the time), I couldn't do ornaments. THEY were the ornaments. I was sooo upset, but then I realized, I'd just had one of the most memorable Christmases despite the lack of ornaments. I'm down to four foot tree, prelit and easy to assemble. My favorite ornaments go on the tree...the ones that won't break when the cats mess with them. That and a Mistletoe candle. That's it.
Do what's right for you! Christmas is more a spirit than things anyway.
I can understand not doing things which seem too strenuous, but I would HAVE to do SOMETHING to mark Christmas. Otherwise I would feel I was turning into Scrooge. Isn't there something about the holidays you would miss?
Hi Colleen: When we're as busy as you and I, something has to give. Of course, if I had kids, I'd probably go ahead and put up the tree. But I'm easily placated without it this year.
Hi Karen Anne: Well, if a tree magically appeared in my living room, I would not object. But that ain't gonna happen.
Hi Tom: Yeah, every day is Christmas to me! Still, there's nothing quite like stumbling from the bedroom in stocking feet, rubbing your eyes and wondering if there will be a tree and presents under it that particular morning. When I was a kid, I had no concept of time, but I knew when it snowed, sooner or later Santa Claus would come. I truly believed he came down the chimney on Christmas Eve and put up the tree. Little did I know that my father would hold off buying a tree until Christmas Eve because by then they were all marked 50% or more off.
Hi Stewart: Commercialism of the holiday doesn't me. But I do enjoy the smell of a real Christmas tree and baking Christmas cookies.
Hi Crystal: It's cloudy, overcast, drizzly and cold here today, with temperatures hovering around 50. I've also been working nonstop since early November with no days off whatsoever. So I figure I deserve a holiday.
Hi Debi: I'm going to try to think about nothing but my husband and family over Christmas. My sister from Minnesota is meeting us in Kauai and bringing my niece.
Hi Chris Ann: Just wait for the day when you say to yourself, "Self, it's too much work to put up the four-foot tree," and then you'll think of me and laugh.
Hi Leslie: I've celebrated Christmas in so many ways over the years. It's never the same from year to year. Sometimes, I spend it with friends, other times it has been family. I guess I miss my mom. She died in 2002.
Elizabeth, since my kids have grown up and left the house, Christmas isn't quite the same. For one thing, we save a lot of $$ by not having to buy toys and gadgets for them!
Let us all keep in mind that Christmas is NOT about the tree, lights, food, gifts, shopping, music or anything else ANYWAY. Those are nice things, but all distractions that keep us separated from the original meaning of CHRIST-mas, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
On Christmas, as a family, we open our Bibles and read the story of Christ's birth. After reading about Mary's divine sacrifice, I really appreciate her as a mother and appreciate my children much more.
Regina P. Brown
Allison James Estates & Homes
Elizabeth - I was gone visiting my grandchildren last year (the year I lost my wife) but this year I will be home and won't be decorating either. I just doesn't seem to be the same when you are just doing it for yourself. Kind of a bummer really, but that is the way it is. On a brigher note, enjoy Hawaii, and look up Sally while you are there! Wait till you see Santa coming down a palm tree!
We have a 2 foot high tree and it is about all we have for the holiday spirit. It does get easier to avoid all the hype and get to the real reason for the holidays seeing family and friends.
Elizabeth- I was considering not having a tree because of my puppies and not doing the Christmas Morning thing at my house, but after reading this post I have decided that I just MUST have a tree, even if it is small. And we have three cats and two dogs and will be gone on Christmas day, but dang it... I owe it to myself to have a tree.
Kathy would have me committed if I didn't put up a tree and decorate the house. It IS a lot of work, I'll admit, but I'm doing it anyway. It's one of the few times a year I act like a kid again... :)
Elizabeth,
That is very much like me. I would not have a tree, not live not dead, but olga wants a tree, and only a live one. I had it my way once several years back, and that artificial tree is still somewhere in my daughter's garage.
As for the Holidays, we celebrate all of them. Christmas is a new one for us, but New Year was the best Holiday ever, and now is a bit less of it, as gifts under the tree are now on Christmas, and not New Year, like it was in atheist Russia.
We are going to by-pass Christmas this year - Christmas will be spent with just me and the dear husband spending some quality time together - that will be our gift to each other - no diamonds this year - no computers - just quality time being thankful for each other.
Elizabeth, I haven't read the comments yet....but I was almost there this year. We did buy the 4.5 foot, lights attached - last year. BUT my husband helps decorate and then puts it away.
I was a bit out of the mood, but then remembered the true meaning of Christmas and decided I would BAKE and give out plates as I had done years back. Now I'm back into it. Don't know for how long......but if you'll be in Hawaii, I don't blame you a bit. ;-)
Hey Fred: You forget that I live in California -- home of the Santa Claus's crawling down a palm tree!
Hi Tammy: Glad to have inspired you. Hope your puppies don't chew on the extension cord or knock over the tree!
Hi Jesse: I don't know how you do it with all you have on your plate -- and I'm not just talkin' 'bout food. :)
Hi Jon: So, is Olga making you cut down a tree? Wait. You live in Florida. Guess that ain't gonna happen.
Hi Thesa: Usually I get double presents because we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, but this year we have decided that our trip is our present to each other. OK, I decided that. My husband said he's already bought me something . . .
Hi Teri: That's one thing my husband doesn't do. But he is taking a couple of our cats to the vet for their annual check-up because I'm too busy to do it. So that makes up for it. I do hang up Christmas cards on our glass-block wall though. For some reason, the previous owners built a curved glass wall that curls into our living room. Makes it an ideal spot to tape up cards.
Sounds as if you have an IDEAL Christmas planned. I'd love to take off to some isolated place for Christmas myself.
Elizabeth: I can understand the no tree part. My husband and I have had the same tree for the last 10 years. We decorated a live fig tree with white lights and they stay on year round. When the Holidays roll around, we plug the tree in. The last several years, we have started decorating it with ornaments to make it even more festive.
Since we visit my parents for 7 to 10 days over the Holidays, it just does make sense time wise to buy and put up a live tree or an artifical tree. Enjoy the Holidays in Kauai. It sounds like fun.
I would say spending Christmas in Hawaii is holiday enough!
Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto CA
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