Ed and the tree

He's such a good guy in so many ways. Just a couple of recent examples: letting kids climb and settle in on his own napping self (he's big enough to accommodate two). Trying to adjust his sleep cycle so that he can wake up when it is still morning and we can eat breakfast together.

(eyeing a new jigsaw puzzle...)

Always looking for a good rom com for us to watch together. I could go on. Things that are so out of step with his own inclinations and yet he does them. Without complaint or even a grimace.

Perhaps the biggest bend, indeed, plunge into an alien land for him is Christmas with me. His Jewish family did have a Christmas tree when he was a kid (that's New York City for you), but since then, he has pretty much ignored the holiday. Indeed, a good chunk of it -- the commercial aspects of buying stuff, wrapping everything in paper that is then tossed, church music, chopping down holiday trees -- it's all antithetical to all that he lived by. 

Then I came along.

Sixteen years ago, when we first started living together, the kids weren't married and their Christmas was my Christmas. Big tree, family ornaments, lots of food, gifts, music. He never complained and had only one request: that no one ever buy him a present. 

Over the years, I toned it down. The family Christmas moved to the homes of the young families and I stayed with a little tree that I bought for the corner of our living room at the farmhouse. Stuck up on top of an old crate that we found in the barn.

But this year, I let my own holidaying grow. Starting with the tree. Not like your big beautiful to-the-ceiling tree, but big enough to warrant a stand.

I have never loved Amazon more than this afternoon, when I found the carton in my mailbox with the pieces of a stand in it. Easy assembly. All Ed had to do was saw off the end of the trunk and then together, we did the usual "no, lean it to the stairs a little more" and "no, that's too much" until it was centered, screwed in and within minutes, decorated.

All but the handful of glass ornaments from central Europe, coming from this store later this week. But really, the tree is ever so pretty already... with many happy children dancing in twinkling lights...

This is my idea of a hygge moment:

No need to post photos from a cold November day outside. I have our tree. I am happy.