'Twas the Month before Christmas

Essie set up the tree tonight. It was a wonderful affair. Yes I am being serious.

She has this way about her that makes me marvel every time she sets out to do something. The jewelry she makes is amazing... One day she said she was going to try her hand at making jewelry and the next day she had a slew of these extremely impressive bracelets, earrings and necklaces that she was going to take to the school and sell to fellow teachers. She made a killing. So now she was adamant about getting this tree set up. It was one of those artificial ones, just a cheap $20 model from Wal-Mart that was given to us by her daughter. It came in it's original box, and the pic on the box showed this feeble little sapling that looked like it had been cut down during a typhoon induced hail storm. It was full of gaps and holes, and didn't have that "full" look at all. But I knew that Essie already had a vision in mind for it... And nothing was going to stop her from achieving the results of that vision. I admitted to her that I had no interest at all in helping with the set up... I am too easily distracted to take the time to sort out the artificial branches and place them into their self-identifiable color-coded holes. I find this job tedious at best, and I would rather find a snug spot on the couch underneath my Cubs blanket and watch episode after episode of Scare Tactics... Which is exactly what I did. That show is whack. I'm only admitting that I watched it to validate my point about hating to set up artificial trees. The host, Tracy Morgan might be the SINGLE MOST annoying person on Earth, and if you are one who thinks this dude is funny, then you really need to re-evaluate what is and what is not comedy. You probably also find Bobcat Goldthwait hilarious. But anyway, back to Essie. She put the tree together by herself, and applied the Christmas ornaments to it with some delicately sliced ribbons she cut, to give it a more "glamorous" look. I have to admit I was blown away. Deep down however, I wasn't at all surprised. Her knack for art supersedes anybody else's that I have ever known. I know it's a good thing I didn't help her... Anything I would have added only would have hindered the look she achieved, and made the tree that much less beautiful.