Two-tree Christmas

Remember last Christmas? I tried to opt out of the whole Christmas thing because a) my son and his girlfriend weren’t going to be home for Christmas, b) I didn’t have any Christmas spirit and c) my apartment was full. At the last minute I realized I needed a Christmas tree, for some reason I couldn’t fathom. Of course being the last minute, it was too late. So I decorated my mannequins.

Fast forward to this year: My son and his girlfriend will be home for Christmas, I have a passable amount of Christmas spirit, and my new house isn’t quite full. So I bought a balsam fir, strung some popcorn and cranberry strings, put up some lights and decorated the tree with all my favourite ornaments.

But did I stop there? NO. I have TWO trees this year. Many years ago, my Opa, who was the very personification of Christmas spirit, invented Christmas-in-a-Frame. This year the prototype found its way to me, probably because I now have a basement.

Essentially, Christmas-in-a-Frame hangs on the wall for 11 months of the year. The picture is of an autumn scene. In December, you flip the frame around, open the doors, and fold out Christmas! There’s a little tree in there – you plug it in, push a button, and a medley of Christmas carols begins to play and the lights dance in time to the music! It’s really quite charming, but only briefly: after several minutes you have to pull the plug or you’ll go insane. After Christmas, you fold it back up, lock the doors, and flip the frame around again so it can be art for 11 months. (That’s the theory anyway…in my case it will go back down to the basement, because it’s a rather large and garish frame for a rather uninspired piece of autumnal art. Sorry Opa.)

One-third of Opa’s ashes are in a birdhouse on top of my bookcase, and I like to imagine he’s aware of his surroundings on some kind of cosmic level (I know he’s not, I just like to imagine he is). So I plug in his Christmas-in-a-Frame several times a day for him, and imagine his Christmas spirit springing to life. He loved Christmas and everything about it. He loved taking care of all the little details to create the perfect Christmas. He loved cooking the goose, decking the halls, wrapping the presents, trimming the tree, everything. His Christmas spirit was infectious.

We can’t all be Opa: Christmas spirit, for some reason, is more elusive for some of us. Some years I have it, some years I don’t. Some years I have it but it sputters and fades in the seemingly endless run-up to the big day. No matter how you feel about Christmas this year, I hope you have a Good Enough Christmas. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect or magical. Just give and take whatever pleasures you can from the parts of Christmas you like, be it the people you’re with, the memories, the clementine oranges, the mulled wine, the day off work, or whatever else makes you happy.

And always look at the bright side: If you love Christmas, it’s finally here; if you hate it, it’s finally almost over!