It started so innocently. I couldn’t believe that I had allowed my Christmas trees to stand well past New Year’s Day. For most of my married life, it was my tradition to pack away the tree the day after Christmas. As much as I enjoy making the house festive for the holiday season, I am well over it by the time Christmas Day arrives and ready to return things back to normal. I was quite content with my system until a friend told me that it was bad luck to take the Christmas tree down before New Year’s Day. I don’t consider myself a superstitious person by any means, but why risk it?
I got to work removing the first tree the day after New Years. A week later I could not believe that I hadn’t gotten around to taking down the last tree in the dining room. This was by far record breaking for me. I jokingly told my youngest son that maybe we should just leave it up all year long and change the ornaments to reflect all the different major holidays throughout the year. He laughed and said I think you should do it. That evening when my husband came home I told him about our little plan. I wholeheartedly expected him to tell me I was crazy and insist that I pack the tree away. You would think after being with someone 26 years you should be able to expect certain responses, but obviously this was to be a first of many other firsts because he was surprisingly supportive of the idea.
To prove my commitment and for moral support, I posted my bizarre idea on Facebook. Immediately I was overwhelmed by the number of responses it got. Not only were people intrigued, but they wanted to be a part of the experiment. I decided that since my project was gaining a following I should launch a blog to share the experience with anyone who wanted to take this journey with me. I named my blog A Year in the Life of a Christmas Tree. I suddenly felt like the character Julie from the movie Julie and Julia. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Julie challenges herself by committing to make every recipe from Julia Child’s famous cookbook while blogging about the experience. Julie’s two biggest fears were the recipes involving killing a lobster and dressing a duck. She saved those until the very end. I can all but guarantee no crustaceans or fowl will be harmed or killed in the process of my endeavor.
Not everyone is on board with my project. My oldest son is mortified by the idea of our neighbor’s seeing a lit Christmas tree through our dining room window in the middle of summer. “Don’t you care what people will think?” This coming from a child, who walks around in droopy drawers with his boxers showing, is suddenly concerned about appearances and what people will think. To be quite honest, I'm not worried about that. In fact, it is part of the challenge. Besides the ability to come up with themes and decorations for the tree, I am going at this with the determination of a Spirited Woman. That silent tree in the corner will speak volumes to me every time I look at it over the course of this year. It will encourage me to stretch a little further, live a little louder and worry not over the opinion of others. Now if you will excuse me, I have a few more Mardi Gras beads to hang.
Gina McNew, www.ItsHipToBeHot.com
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