Christmas

The Tree Demon

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Putting My Feet In The Dirt: December Prompt #5- Pumpernickle and Rye

Photo by Mateusz Dach on Pexels.com

My least favorite thing to do at Christmas was decorating the family Christmas tree.

Decorating the tree was my Dad’s gig and he was convinced that if I did as much as look at the tree a light would burn out, or it would tilt or that one of the ornaments that had been perfectly placed a second ago was now ‘all wrong’.

So I was allowed to hand him ornments, keep my mouth shut and for heaven’s sake whatever I did- don’t touch anything. It didn’t matter that I killed the tree every year and that I kept it from achieving perfection. I wanted to be there anyway.

I was the resident Christmas Tree Demon.

Maybe I started to get into my role as the reason the tree failed to reach the height of it’s Christmas Glory every single damn year or maybe I wanted to be part of the festivities desperately enough that I was willing to be somewhere I wasn’t wanted or needed.

I guess I assumed I was some sort of Christmas Oaf that couldn’t be trusted around the tree as it was coming together- unlike my cousin who broke ornaments  because she liked the popping noise they made and sang Shirley Temple songs and tap danced around the living room and the tree  until I was good and ready to stick her up the chimney and start a fire.

My Dad and anyone else that was there that day stopped what they were doing to watch her and they watched me too- you know, in case I tried to touch something I wasn’t supposed to touch.

One year my parents took me to their friends house and their four kids proudly lined up in front of their tree and their parents took a picture of them and told us the kids had done the tree themselves and wasn’t it great?

My parents were big on me minding my manners and for as much as they thought I couldn’t manage to decorate their tree,  they did expect me to know how to initiate and participate in conversations.

That’s right, my Dad wanted me to compliment a bunch of other kids for doing something I was convinced I was absolutley terrible at and had no hope of ever being able to do.

I looked up at the tree, it was lit up and it sparkled and it smelled wonderful because it was a freshly cut tree. The one thing that caught my eye were these lovely little glass acorns with fake snow spinkled at the top near the stem.

I would like to say what I said wasn’t said out of meaness, or maybe it was. Maybe The Christmas Tree Demon showed up uninvited because that’s what Christmas Tree Demons do.

I walked up to the tree and with the lights sparkling and twinkling in my eyes I said in childlike wonder, ” I’ll bet it was a really pretty tree before you chopped it down and killed it.”

Christmas Fun That Is Funny

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Photographer Unknown

I thought this was really a neat idea- someone put their Christmas tree outside and decorated it with birdfeeders and lights.

I could never have done this because I have always had cats, but I did used to put up bat houses- I guess I could have decorated those, don’t you think?

Photographer:
A.M. Moscoso

In Iceland there is a tradition called Jólabókaflóð—the Yule Book Flood and people give each other books on Christmas Eve. I was going to do something like that, but like a lot of my Christmas plans- among many others- were put on hold.

However I will be giving chocolates and snacks because if I don’t I probably won’t have any friends left to give books to next year.

I like to track Santa with the help of NORAD- plus they have fun games that you can share with your kids or just play them  yourselves because it’s Christmas!!!

 I can’t figure out how to win most of them, but I do like the memory games.

Official NORAD Santa Tracker: HERE

The Walk

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Fandango’s Flashback Friday– The Walk

First published in December,  2016

” This road looks dangerous, doesn’t it. ” he said.

She was walking slightly ahead of him, a woman in long fitted  black fur jacket trimmed along her collar and wrists with light gray lace shaped like  feathers.  Her head  was protected from the cold and the fog by a fluffy brown scarf.

” I mean, it’s a good thing there’s still daylight. Wouldn’t want to be out here when it’s dark. Look at the shape of this pavement, broken to bits and full of ice. It’s dangerous in full daylight. In the dark, well, one false step and whump. Down you go.”

“I’m wondering.” he asked without expecting her to answer, in fact he preferred she keep quiet- for now. ” Do you know  there’s a lake off the path here. It’s pretty deep, I’ve heard. Nobody knows exactly how deep it is. Anything could be down there. You could hide anything down there and keep it hidden pretty much forever.”

She continued to walk in the same measured stride and she continued to not pay any attention to him.

” Yes, daylight is the time to be out here. Before the temperature  drops and the fog rolls in and not only can’t you see but you can’t even walk fast let alone run if something came up on you. Something not friendly. Because. Whump. Down you go.  You could be hurt and alone all night- providing you lasted that long.” He paused. ” In this cold. Well. ”

To his satisfaction- no- to his pleasure he saw her adjust her scarf and she slowed down. Just a little. But that was enough, that was all he needed. He felt positively warm inside and it made the palms of his hands sweaty.

” This little park is no where to be walking alone, especially when it’s cold and the dark and the fog rolls in fast like it is right now. Once daylight is gone, that’s when it’s worse. That’s when the ground opens up and the monsters come out. At night when  you’re all alone.”

She stopped and he saw her drop her scarf  back with shaking hands on either side of her head. He was delighted to see little puffs of her nervous breath frozen and drifting over her shoulder towards him because they had nowhere else to go.

Those small gestures excited him to the center of his bones.

” Are you sure about that? That the monsters only come out at night.” she asked as she turned around carefully so as not to slip on the icy path. ” Are you absolutely sure about that?

 

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Inspired By The Australian Advent Calender: The Bunyip

Haunted

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I feel like

I am playing hide and seek with the  Christmas Spirit.

 

I put up my tree, lit it up ,hung some decorations on it and just when I thought I caught

a glimmer of the Christmas Spirit

it was gone.

 

I put my dog’s festive Christmas collar on him last night- it is decorated with holly

wreaths and snowflakes-

and I thought I felt something behind me,  I felt a happy little tingle go up and down my

spine-

could it be the Christmas Spirit? I wondered.

It didn’t matter, whatever it was disappeared when  I turned around.

 

I hae been writing  stories about snow and ghosts and I’ve been listening to hours of

Christmas

carols and just when I start to smile I look up and that sense of adventure and fun is

gone as if it had never been there.

Poof. It must be some kind of cruel magic. Gone.

 

Gone

like a snowflake that follows you into the house

and falls to the ground when you take your jacket off

it melts away, just like that.

 

I guess I’ll keep looking for

the Christmas Spirit.

I’m fond of ghosts, so I won’t mind if they just sneak up and say ” Boo.”