So I went out there and chopped down the tallest one and brought it in the house and decorated it. It looked small out in the yard, but it almost reached the ceiling of our living room. They sell LED Christmas lights now that use almost no power, so we could even light it up.
Some people say that Christmas traditions are for children and family and that there's no reason to decorate and celebrate if you don't have either around. I have a friend that says it is downright perverse to celebrate by killing trees and dragging the corpses into our houses. But I love Christmas. There is something about a holiday full of warmth and light and food and home at this time of year when the night is so long and the dark is so cold that makes me profoundly happy. And the sense of hope and possibility that a New Year always brings is a perfect thing to finish off the holiday season with.
The twinkling Christmas lights are my favorite part. I have an eclectic collection of Christmas ornaments from all over the world that I hang from the tree. We light scented candles and dress up the table. I hung glass Christmas balls all over the cabin (antlers make a great place to hang them). I don't shop for gifts anymore because everyone in my family has too much stuff to begin with, and I don't like obligatory gift giving anyway. I think gifts should be spontaneous and sincere. I'm happy to let go of the consumer frenzy part of Christmas. But the part that is focused on home - that part I was especially grateful for this year.
I hope that however you celebrate this season that you are warm and happy and surrounded by love. And may the New Year bring us all good news and good luck.
2 comments:
Do you guys ever use the gas lamps? We sure did before we installed the solar electricity? We thought kerosene lamps were reall something until we got gas lamps, but free electricity is best of all.
We used the gas lamps the first year when the batteries quite suddenly stopped holding a charge for more than an hour or so. Tom took them out and took them to Bozeman to get new ones, but they had to order the new ones, so we had three days without electricity. We ran the generator in the morning for awhile to grind coffee and to check email. Then we used gas lamps and candles in the evening. It was quite romantic.
When I replaced all the soft copper gas piping with black iron (when I added the on-demand water heater in the house), I put stubs up for the gas lamps, but the one over the sink had started to fall apart from being jolted by the slamming of the door. So it is not hooked up, although there is a valve there to hook it up to if I ever get around to fixing it. We never use them, though, because solar electricity is free and propane isn't.
But if the sun goes out, or if the batteries go bad again (some ten or more years from now, I figure), we have them for backup.
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