This morning, in that haze between sleep and wakefulness, I heard a muffled cry from JG. I mentally muddled through the two conceivable possibilities: either something had happened with Ted or —
“The tree fell down,” JG said as he burst into our room. “Put some shoes on because there’s broken glass.”
After several stressful attempts, we managed to coerce the tree to stand upright again. JG tied the top of the tree to a kitchen cabinet to prevent another fall, and we stepped back to survey the damage. Only two soggy presents had to be re-wrapped, and we had a few ornament casualties, so it wasn’t too bad, all things considered. JG raced to get dressed for work and jet out the door as I picked up glass fragments and vacuumed up pine needles. The tree had stood up on its own for a whole ten days! What happened? It was hard to stomach the thought of re-composing the tree with only a week left before Christmas, and something about broken ornaments hit me right in pit of my stomach.
As if that weren’t enough for one day, today was the department’s annual Holiday Colloquium, which is smart-person code for Christmas luncheon. Apparently, we’re not allowed to book public meeting space for parties, so we have a colloquium instead. In my rush to leave in the morning, I had almost forgotten the peppermint patty cookies I had made for the occasion (the cheater “recipe” exposes me as a baking fraud with my illicit use of pre-packaged cookie dough), but I walked the platter down to the room amid meaty, slow-cooker smells along the way. I don’t know what I was expecting at this blessed event, but it was rather depressing. The pot-luck food was adequate, but everyone clumped up into their own groups, which gave the whole set-up an adolescent feel. I brought a camera so that I could try to document the lunch for our newsletter, but everyone looked at me askance when I drew near. It was a complete change from my old job, which had a separate Pictures folder on the shared drive for fun photos. I have to keep reminding myself that I work in a department full of lab rats, which doesn’t make for a very festive party atmosphere. After I had eaten and snapped some obligatory pictures, I retreated back to my office as soon as I could.
I’m not exactly stressed out, but I feel as though my allotted store of sparkling, festive Christmas spirit has already been drained. Maybe I expended too much of it prematurely with Secret Blogger Santa. Maybe the inherent strain of Family Time is finally rearing its ugly head. Maybe I don’t want to hang those ornaments back up on the tree. Or maybe I just need a nap.
Bah.
7 comments
Oh no–your poor ornaments! That is tragic, seriously, but I suppose it could have been worse. I’m glad you got your tree back up. Also, I think that your Christmas spirit will be back in a few days–just in time for the actual holiday.
Yes, it could have been much worse. But you’re right — I have a few days to bounce back before Christmas.
I am surprised that my tree is still standing. I guess stuffing it into a pot because we’re too cheap to buy a stand was a good idea after all!
My Holiday Sprirt tank is running on empty after TWO holiday parties today. Bah humbug!
I think your tree looks good in its planter. Your office is just over the top when it comes to holiday spirit. Surely they could heat and light a small country with all of that energy.
I’m so sad that your tree fell, but I love your pictures. You take really good ones… of broken ornaments.
And I’m so stealing that peppermint patty cookie recipe. Who cares if its a cheater recipe, no one will know!!
Steal away! I made these cookies one year because I was crunched for time, but I keep doing it because people keep asking for them, so they can’t be all bad, right?
I’m sure you’ll get back into the spirit of things. We can’t be happy ALL the time, right?
Good point. I hope I’m less dull by the time Christmas rolls around. If not, I guess there’s always a ton of food to eat, huh.
I came here from Janet’s to say “Y and is Yo-Yo”.
(or yellow, i suppose. but yo-yo will make them laugh and make you feel less silly for having to explain each letter).
Hi, Emily! It’s funny because Janet suggested yo-yo for Y, too! I’ll have to try it out. I have used yellow before, but I am conflicted because all of my other “as in” terms are names… and my life means nothing without consistency. What the heck name begins with Y? Yancey? But it sounds like Nancy… I’m sure you understand the conflict.
You definitely just need a nap! It’s too bad you’re not getting an extended work vacation this year.
Although, there’s nothing like a little unexpected Jamie-Lynn Spears pregnancy news to make the yuletide bright!
Yeah, it would be nice to get some time off. But hey — that pregnancy report is making my head spin. What in the world?!
Oh I feel your pain! I think we start celebrating this season way too early, and put way too much pressure on ourselves to get it Just! Right! It’s impossible to meet my own expectations, and invariably I’m disappointed when it’s all over - both in what I gave and in what I received.
Your luncheon sounds ominously like my company’s “Holiday Party” at which I spent most of the evening standing against the wall because no one wanted to talk to the new girl. And I’m FUN! I hate company functions.
I didn’t hate company events at my old job, but this latest one was so uncomfortable but I may need to second-guess my intentions of attending. I know that I should take initiative to introduce myself to people, but I do wish the others would be more apt to break free of their groups, at least for a minute.
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