One of the joys of being a teacher: SNOW DAYS! We had one today, and I took the opportunity to do some cleaning and puttering around the apartment. I also took the Christmas tree down. I was going to wait another week (I feel like I just decorated it!) but since I had time today, and since I bought some new storage boxes, I decided to seize the day and be productive. Why is undecorating the tree such a sad process? My tree is sort of a "theme tree" (the theme is black and green. and glitter.) and I bought all of the matchy ornaments last year, so it's not like they have a lot of sentimental value. For the record, I do have sentimental ornaments, but they don't match the tree so I hang them on a garland around my bar counter. I suppose that as I pack all the ornaments away and disassemble the tree pieces, I get to wondering where I will be in a year. Will I be in this apartment? Will I put the tree in the same place? Will I be miraculously cured of my tree allergies and finally get to purchase a real tree? (That won't happen.)
This snow day makes me nostalgic for snow days of years past. This is actually some decent snow--good for packing snowballs! Most of the snow days we had when I was in school were more like "possibility of wintry mix days" or, more commonly, "rain days." Very rarely did it actually snow! In elementary school, we had a steep driveway that was great for sledding. In middle school and high school, my best friend lived down the street. No matter how icy (or rainy) it was outside, I knew I could make it to her house on foot; therefore, we spent every snow day together. Her mom always had delicious snacks or fun craft projects; we spent hours playing Super Nintendo (we were Donkey Kong Country champs) and watching all our favorite movies. Even in college, I can remember staying at her dorm one snowy evening watching a Twilight Zone marathon, then finally heading home at around 2:00 in the morning, struggling to see through the snow and scared to death that every shadow was one of the creepy wax figures from the Twilight Zone. We were together every non-snowy day too, but the snowy ones were just more memorable, I guess. Snow days just haven't been as action-packed since our friendship fizzled out (or crashed and burned... but that's a story for another day). I have to admit though that today's lazy, solitary day has been quite nice.
I wasn't sure where this post was headed as I started writing, but now I'm sitting here thinking about those sentimental ornaments. I have a tradition of buying a new ornament every year. Some of those ornaments still hang on my parents' tree, but some of them moved over to my apartment. Some of them came from my grandparents' Christmas tree. Some of them have a story, but there are some that I just like, and I have no idea why. For example, the plastic fan covered in sequins that has been on our tree for as long as I can remember. I have no idea why I like that ornament, but my family members know better than to hang that one up without me. Hanging the fan is my job. (Just like it's my brother's job to hang every Garfield, hockey skate, and snare drum ornament. He may actually have more favorites than I do.)
Then there's the gold and crystal slipper that was a gift from my dear friend's bridesmaids' luncheon last year. That one is new, but I know it will be around for a while, and I love that it will remind me every year of the amazing weekend we had at Disney World last December, when she and her wonderful husband got married. Maybe someday I'll have a daughter, and that slipper will be my daughter's favorite ornament. She won't fully understand the love and the story behind it; to her it will just be a sparkly shoe. Lucky for her, I've managed to collect quite a few shoe-shaped ornaments (people must think I like shoes or something). And it will be a joy to watch her hang them on the tree.
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