Happiness Tree

Yes, we have had our Christmas tree up since September and decorated since October.  Yes, judge if you will but Bear wanted to enjoy it as much as he possibly can this year because he knows (and until you KNOW you can’t know) that time is fleeting and every single second counts.  I’m not entirely sure I’m going to take it down in January.  I’m taking life one day at a time right now.

That said… a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook in the comments of a post she posted showing her happiness tree.  She has an amazing tree that is all wires that I would love to some day be able to have one like that is up all year.  It’s probably 3 or 4 feet tall.  It has lights.  The decorations get swapped in and out as the season changes, as the feelings strike her, whenever she wants to swap them out.  She has grandchild hands hanging on it in the picture I saw… those and some beaded garland, lights and some bulbs.  

When I saw her picture, I fell in love with the idea. And eventually I would love to have a wire frame tree like hers because you can see all the way through it and that is a thing that I think I’ve inherited from my Aunt Bea.  But in the mean time… I’ve adopted and orphan tree that is going to soon take up residence on my desk.

This morning I got up at 3:30 am and knew that it was supposed to be my training morning.  I was supposed to run 30 minutes (give or take) to stay on training track for the Disney races in February.  I really wasn’t feeling the run this morning and I tried to convince myself I didn’t need to do it just this once.  It was 28 degrees.  I was exhausted.  I didn’t feel great (coming down with a cold).  I just wasn’t feeling it.

But I know I need to not talk myself out of running.  I need to keep myself going even when it is crappy outside. 

So I laced up my shoes, strapped on my head light, pulled on an extra hoody and my fancy schmancy new running gloves, turned on the candycane arch and Olaf (so I don’t step on them when I come up the sidewalk)  and headed out.  

It’s garbage day. Bear always dreads when I run on garbage day because I occasionally bring stuff home from my run.  Usually it is either an orphaned plant or storage boxes that someone else has decided to divest themselves of.  I have made an awesome composter out of someone else’s cast off storage boxes.  

Today I ran past (on my NORMAL cul de sac) a Christmas tree… complete with lights… laying in the trash.  I told myself if that one was still there when I swung back home I would maybe snag it.  It was in really good shape (the lights even work) but it is a 6 or 7 foot tree.  I know a smallish squirrel girl who has been trying to find a tree of her own to adopt.  Turns out that tree WAS there on my way back but that isn’t where this story is headed.

I decided to take a route that I have only taken probably four times since I started running the neighborhood in February.  It’s kind of on the hilly side and I kind of avoid it because of that on my not long (and slow) weekend runs.  

Today, it brought me past a house that had a (you guessed it) Christmas tree out in the garbage.  This one was older than the other one, had been very well loved over the years, and the top piece kind of reminded me of a Charlie Brown tree.  It reminded me of the little tree I had when I was 7 or 8 years old.  It reminded me of the tree that sat on the buffet at Grandma’s house when I was little little.  

I’ve been in really weird moods lately and this tree top made me cry (which when it is 28 and windy isn’t a great thing).  It needed to serve its purpose.  It needed a warm home to call its own.  It needed love.  

So, I picked up the top and ran with it the mile to get back to home.  

Yes, I ran/walk/ran my 30/30 tempo and no it wasn’t easy with a tree in one hand and still tears. 

When I got back to the cul de sac the tree I saw first was still there so I snagged part of it and said to myself that, if the rest was still there when I left for work I would toss it in my Subaru.  There is a man who drives the neighborhood on garbage day taking things that he can use to make money with (washers, dryers, metal parts of anything he can sell) and I was convinced the rest of the tree would be gone by the time (an hour later) I left for work.  It wasn’t.  And the smallish squirrel girl now has her very own really pretty nice tree.

I took the tree top home, found some sidewalk patch cement (ready mixed in a plastic tub) in the garage, jammed the tree down in as far as it would go and braced it with branches so it stays upright in the cement until it sets.

I have my happiness tree.  I have some Goofy ornaments that will live on that tree forever (because Bear loves Goofy and I love Bear).  I will need to go find some LED lights that won’t burn out for a long long long time so run lights on it.  I may make a “daddy” star the way I was taught to cut stars out of paper when I was little for on it.  I will hang a dutchy spool ornament on it and an Aunt Bea beaded candy cane on it too.

I may (or may not) eventually get a wicked cool wire tree to set in another room of the house for the same happiness deal, but this one?  This one will life on my desk when I can see it and smile (and cry) forever.  It’s only about 2 1/2 feet tall but it will live out its purpose (its new purpose) bringing Joy to my house.

It’s my godwink for today.

Love and Light
April
12/6/2018