festivize.

i left home in 1997 to embark upon the great adventure of college and life. since then, i've been home for christmas only intermittently; as such, the whole spectacle of the festively attired tannenbaum has more or less bypassed me the last few years. it's a shame, really, because the trees we had growing up were always so lovely--somehow, we women of the house would manage to wrestle a six-foot fir into the living room and gussy it up splendidly, with colored lights and whimsical ornaments; as my sister was so fond of saying, it looked as though it were sprouting toys!

we didn't have a tree the last time i came home for christmas. since the sisters fled the nest, mom didn't really think it necessary to go through the hassle of lugging in a tree, setting it up, all that good stuff (to say nothing of vacuuming the needles out of the carpet!), since christmas is for the children, after all (or so they erroneously say). i was going to be home for only a couple days, so we figured we'd forego the tree entirely. and it wasn't so bad. but there was something missing, it's undeniable.

i spent christmas in new york the year after that; i didn't have a tree, but ross did, and it was beautiful and tall, just like him. so i came close to having a tree. i helped him put it up and smelt like pine needles for hours afterwards; but i didn't get to bring it home. and it was sad leaving it at night.

last year i spent christmas in the uk. the tree was already in place and decorated by the time i got there; my relationship with it consisted of me trying to give it a wide berth and avoid knocking it over. so no particularly warm fuzzy feelings there.

but this year, oh this year, despite the fact that dom and i will be spending christmas in california, we have decided that we have been sans festivity long enough: we decided to bring back the tree. and so now, for the first time in our collective adult lives, we have a christmas tree to call our very own. it's a midget tree, but it's ours. and it smells wonderful. and when it was finished, fully clad in white lights and silver and red glass balls, i felt a little bit misty and nostalgic, because i'd forgotten how much of my love of the holiday was wrapped up in the little coniferous creature now sitting merrily in the corner.

convenient, as today is ostensibly the first day of christmas.