december's here and so is the tree

on the last day of november, my dad walked through the back door carrying a bushy pine. the branches filled up the space between his arms and chest, the sweet scent of the tree harbored in. and there it set, tall and waiting. my sister and my littlest brother and i put our midmorning to good use with dressing up the bare branches. we hauled five lights-from-last-year-filled grocery bags onto the coffee table and begun to unwind the strands. tangled christmas lights can either make you or break you. disembroling the strings adorned with tiny glass cylinders is either a chore that has the possiblity of driving you mad, or you can think of it rather like a puzzle to solve. your prize? a pretty lit fraiser. we took our turns rounding the tree, holding messes of lights. i mostly took pictures. taking breaks to taste sprinkled sugar cookies and sip on ice water and read a few pages of the nutcracker book. the bottoms of our socked feet gradually collected fallen pine needles, as did the window sill adjacent to the tree, and most of the living room floor. though the ornaments didn't make their appearance that day, it was good to see the hundreds of tiny lights that evening. when dark was all around, the gentle glow of the christmas tree put a warmth in our home that only this time of year can bring.

happy december, friends xx