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I mean, there are teams for this, right? Is it like how there are Elvis people and Beatles people? Or am I overthinking it? If I'm overthinking it only a little, that's probably the right amount for me.
Somewhere along the way, the last few years, there started being all these different whites at the store. There's warm and cool and LED and bluish and faceted and free-range, probably. I mean which white is white? And so it's like my signifier has lost its referent. Which is a painful condition, but let's not detour into Post-Structuralism this close to Christmas.
So today I was down in the basement finding Hank's fat Santa pillow guys and I saw this big coil of multi-colored lights, like the heavy duty kind that you're really supposed to use outside. And they're on this big reel and I could just picture myself so easily unwinding that baby around and around the tree. So I brought it upstairs and just like that, we stepped boldly away from the land we have known.
Not to overstate the importance of this choice even one tiny bit.
I mean, what will it look like with our ornaments on it? I will be sure to keep you posted during this adventure of my sensibilities.
In other news, it rained a ton all over the Hundred Acre Wood. And no tennis was played.
During a brief let-up, Hank ran outside to see what the foster daughters were up to. He came back inside and told me the girls were burying a snail they had got at the beach. A snail that was dead, he clarified. I nodded or made some noise of acknowledgment, I'm not sure, I was doing something else.
"Mom, I'm sorry if I crushed your happy mood," he said. I tuned back in and assured him that he had not crushed my mood and that while it was a shame the snail was dead, it was not an unnatural thing or surprising thing, etcetera.
And he said, "I just really wish I could have met that snail while he was alive."
And I had to lurch back through the kitchen doorway so I could silently laugh without him seeing me, but it was a laugh that was almost a sob.
Holidays!
xoxo
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19 comments:
Hank is sublime. What do you feed that kid?
Thank you, Mary!
This time of year, mostly clementines.
:)
When we had Christmas trees, I was a white and yellow lights person, with a token strand of multi colors. The white and yellow lights were just magical.
Meanwhile, the exterior lights on the RV just died again and I am just sick of them!
Bah, humbug.
Someday, there will be a best-selling book at B&N called "Hankisms."
White lights, always. Yes, there were several 'discussions' about this when we got married. I recently found myself winding about clef lights, too. what's going on in the world???
Urgh, new phone:
WONDERING about COLORED lights.
Sheesh.
All gastropods go to Heaven.
Take that, white lighters! We reeled in another one!
Deviating from white lights is a design change for the Matron! But having those colored lights on a reel made it a lot easier I imagine.
And then there's Hank. His pronouncements are so precious and often bring a lump to my throat. When you are witness to them, you are blessed in that moment by his tender heart and his candidness . I smiled when you said you had to turn away.
Coloured lights on the tree? Aren't you afraid your neighbourhood HOA might glimpse them through the window and write you a stunningly passive-aggressive missive on the subject? I am not sure coloured lights are even allowed in my town. Maybe with a dispensation permit from the town council.
Your tree looks fabulous!
Kris, it's like you're reading my mail, because "stunningly passive-aggressive" is the HOA's only mode!
Ack! I don't know. That's big. I'm not sure I could take that step, myself. But I'm one of those weirdos that has a different color theme for their ornaments every year.
Keely, just know that you are now committed to some Xmas tree blogging.
You need to find some way to franchise that Hank. He brings a lot of merriment. My husband put multicolor lights on my house while I was gone and, just, no.
Lisa, colored lights on the outside? Now please get one of those 1970's light-up Santa sleighs for the roof!
It's all good!
Um, white lights? What's the point? Those new LED colored lights are fab!
I'm a colored lights person, a holdover from my childhood long before white lights had come on the scene. Once white lights arrived colored lights became a faint memory in most people's minds. I can't break from my colored light tradition.
Hank is priceless! I hope you're recording his witticisms for future generations.
We've always done white lights on our marriage tree, but when I was a kid it was not only colored but those massive bulbs that you'll find if you Google "Christmas light clip art." Hank? I just can't even.
I went to get some more lights anew as so overwhelmed by he choices! When did it get so confusing?? Went with neighborhood approved white lights for the front and colored for the back porch. Who knows what will happen when we get a tree!
Sorry for the typos. On my iPad without glasses on.
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