Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Last night Earl and I began decorating our Christmas tree. I wasn’t in the mood at all this year; in fact, I was willing to forego the whole thing. But Earl loves Christmas and he wouldn’t accept such a lack of holiday spirit.

“Well,” I said, “if you want a tree and all that goes with it, then will you help me put up the decorations?” He nodded. “You promise?” I said. He nodded again.

So Sunday I dragged the tree up from the crawlspace, and last night we started decorating it. There’s a pattern to tree decorating; first the tree must be placed in the stand, then the skirt is added. Next come the lights and after that the ornaments and tinsel, if you want it. (We are not tinsel people.)

It’s time consuming to do it alone, but extra hands make for lighter work; and I must say Earl pitched in readily. We agreed to work for an hour, and in that time we got all the lights on and checked the train set for problems. Tonight we’ll do another hour. It may take us a while to get everything in shape, but both of us agreed it was a most pleasant way to spend a wintry hour.