Christmas Decoration

My mom and I have really missed my dad the last two weeks, or so. Not in the crying our eyes out, mourning, putting on sackclothe kind of way. No, it was more of a "man, we miss him because he did this, or that to make things a little easier." Case in point: Christmas decorations. In years past we would take one day and get everything up. I would up the tree, my dad would sit on the couch and untangle lights and my mom would be setting up other decorations in other rooms. Then, as I put lights on he would take out the tree ornaments, put them in an upturned boxtop and shoo the cats away from the pretty red rounds ones. And then he and I would put the ornaments on and be done by dinner.

This year it took my mom and I longer to get the stuff up. Almost a week. We did it when I was home from work. I put up the tree and the lights one day and then over the course of two or three days we put the ornaments on. Our house was awash with Christmas decoration boxes (plastic tubs we bought at WalMart a few years back).

The decoration is done, now. The plastictubs are back in the shed, and our house is somewhat festive. The tree, artificial, fills the picture window in front and the light reflect in the windwo itself. The cats sit under the tree and wrestle from time to time for possession of the tree.

Its a new Christmas time. A different feeling. Not so much sadness, but the feeling of missing something, or in this case, someone.