We have the same tree as last year.

You know that feeling? Every year you go out and pick a tree from a lot, bring it home, set it up, toss decorations on it, and it comes out looking exactly like last year's.

Y'know, it's kind of nice. Tradition, right? You can look at the ornaments and remember where each one came from. Lisa has an ornament from nearly every year of her life. I have a box of gaudy ornaments that my Grandma gave me when I moved away from home. We've got a bunch of Disney ones like Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Bambi. Oh, and there is a big Darth Maul up there too. Heh.

Mom has to search long and hard to find her tree every year. We all make fun of Mom, because she tends to bring home these sparse Charlie Brown trees, with lots of open gaps and stuff. They come pretty cheap, those ones.

But there's a reason, I suspect, for the spareness, besides Mom's thrifty nature. Mom has a dwindling supply of antique tinsel. This ain't that sliced tin foil stuff you can buy these days, nor is it those long strands of garland that some people call tinsel. No, this is the old, heavy, leaded tinsel. Every delicate strand hangs straight and doesn't blow around in the wind, giving the tree this marvelous, sparkly look as the light shines on the hanging icicles.

See, the tree needs those gaps to let the tinsel hang properly. So the holes in the tree are filled in with strands of silver.

Oh, but her tinsel is old. I'm not allowed to put it on the tree anymore, because the strands break in my hands every other time. So every year, after everything else has been put on the tree, Mom takes an extra hour or two to gently lay each piece of tinsel on the tree. One New Year's Day, when the tree comes down, Mom gently removes each one, silently mourning each inevitable loss.

Because you can't get it anymore. I know, because we've looked. As far as we can tell, it's not being manufactured any more.

Mom's tried the modern junk, but it's useless. It looks cheap when placed against the good stuff. A tiny breeze blows the new stuff away. Bah.

Anyway. So every year Mom's tree looks a little sparser, because she has less and less tinsel to fill it in.

Sigh.

Mom Rating: 4 out of 5. Mom loves Christmas. This would probably go to 5 if someone found her new tinsel.

Meeting Terry

Healthy Lifestyles

Take me home, big fella

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