The perfect tree.....

 The perfect Tree....

     Yes.. the holidays.  All the festive decorations and such around the house and none more important than having the perfect Christmas tree.  Of course these days we make it a little easier with the artificial trees.  Some even pre-lit.  Gone are the days of crooked trunks, bare spots that required extra tinsel, weak branches and prickly needles all through the house.  Simply stand it up, plug it in and hang some ornaments on it.  *BAM* the perfect tree.

      Of course that's not here in the real world.  Here in the real world the tree needs an hour of shaping and grooming before it's worthy of being decorated.  Then the heirloom decorations must be  organized and placed in their designated places on the tree and any new ornaments must be assigned their forever home.  Only then can the 'filler ornaments' be used to fill in any voids that may appear.  It's exhausting of course but it must be done in the proper sequence to have 'the perfect tree'

       Now that it's up and looking good it will take at least twenty four hours for things to migrate around on the tree and become completely unacceptable.  And this will continue to happen every twenty four hours for the duration on the holidays.  Today there was three red ornaments too close together on the right side of the tree..  Yesterday the lights were in a unnatural straight line near the top.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring but as I sit here typing I can hear the snowman telling the angel to "scooch over.. I'm coming up"  so I'm guessing by tree lighting time tomorrow there will be a crowd at the top of the tree.

        If you haven't guessed this is not something I notice but something that is brought to my attention each day.  I'm more of a 'Ronco' Set it and forget it type of guy.  To me Christmas is all about the imperfections of the tree.  I like the challenge of a crooked trunk and saggy branches.  And as far as decorations go I used to love stringing popcorn and gluing walnut shells back together to make a garland that the birds just loved after we took the tree down.  And that silver tinsel that fell down and shorted out the train tracks under the tree.  Ahh the good old days.  

        But now we expect everything to be perfect.. just like life.  We work so hard at it.  We buy the best trees, the best lights the newest fanciest garlands and ornaments but there is always that one branch that's a little crooked .. that one icicle that drops to the track, that one little hiccup that throws things out of whack.  

       Basically what I guess I'm saying is don't expect perfection.  No matter how hard we try to make this a perfect world It's not going to happen.  There is always going to be that crooked bend in the road , much like the tree trunk that is going to cause us grief.  Yes we can just pack the tree away and forget it and eliminate the grief for now but If we want to feel the joy of the season in the future we will have to dig it back out and deal with all of it's issues.  Then again trees are replaceable  Kick it to the curb and buy new..  But do me a favor if you do.  Pass the crooked trunk tree to me.. I enjoy the challenge....