Metal Meredith

I don’t look forward to Christmas decorations. For the past 5 years, it has been a chore to get the tree up.

I remember while pregnant with Vivienne, Phil and Ronni planned to get me out of the house so Phil could put the tree up and surprise me. I wasn’t about to take that on feeling as bad as I did.

The next year, when Vivienne was 6 months old and I bought a mini red foil tree and put it up long enough to fake Christmas photos for my family (sorry Mom). She was too young to care and I was in the midst of discovering my Post Partum Depression. I was in no mood to decorate.

The year after was the first ‘fun’ one with Vivienne. She was really excited about the holiday so we did the whole tree thing. But my lovely white Christmas tree was found yellowed and sad in its box. I made up for it by donating it to a woman who had Down’s syndrome and finally was living in her first apartment. She loved Elvis so I gave her the tree and the lights and she had her own ‘Blue Christmas”. Then we bought the one we have now. The plain, green, fake tree.

The next year we were in our new house but it still felt like we had just moved in. The most it seems I have done in the past years consistently was the tree and the stockings. Vivienne was in full swing that year and it was a joy just to enjoy her.

Last year, I was about to pop with Henry. I wasn’t in a nice place but still managed to set up the tree and have a decorating party with Vivienne. She loved every moment of it and was really proud of her ability to decorate.

This year, I had a grand idea that I wanted new stockings. I had a vision in mind about what they looked like, a cross between a Nordic wool and a Dr Suess sock. I found them. 

Aren’t they nice? I thought they were perfect. And then they arrived in the mail:

Um, do you think they make the fireplace look small?