Oh! ...... Christmas Tree!

Don't know why -- but, I can't seem to finish decorating my Christmas tree this year. Actually, it's to the point where all it really needs is the star topper, but it's been a long go of it. This will go down as the year of the minimalist tree -- which is fine with me cause I like things simple.

This year, from the moment we started the tree search, till now, I keep remembering a Christmas a few years past. One we refer to as -- the year of the little tree we left behind.

It was the year our oldest son became a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. We had been to his graduation in Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- along with our youngest son who was about five years old at the time. To say that our youngest son was enamored with the military would be an understatement.

That child begged for camo outfits, and would use whatever he could find (Magic Markers, water colors, my eye-shadows & lipsticks) to paint his face. Only when his older brother told him the military would make him eat his vegetables did his obsession wane. ....We all have our limits, I guess.

I contribute that military fixation to be the cause of what happened that Christmas -- which happened to be the year we decided to take the kids to a Christmas tree farm to choose and cut our very own tree. With our oldest away in the military, and our middle two....teens who were quite blase with the whole family Christmas-tree-picking-thing, it fell to our youngest to be the Official Family Christmas Tree Picker-Outer.

A job he had no trouble performing. Within five minutes of arriving at the tree farm, he had picked out the family tree. A tree with a huge hole in the back. A hole (as he told us) big enough for him to hide in while on missions.

He was adamant with his choice. Our two middle kids snickered and gave us that look that said "serves you right". I said "what the hell. why not." -- by then I'd learned a thing or two about choosing your battles. But......husband/father said, "are you out of your mind? you think I'm paying $$$ for this!"

Our youngest can be quite stubborn, and he didn't give up easily. While we wandered around the tree lot, he remained sitting in the hole in that tree. I, meanwhile, lowered myself to lying trickery. I told him the tree would fill out and we could buy it next year. ....He didn't believe it.

In the end, we/dad chose another tree and we carried it (along with a screaming child) to the car.

That was the year our tree was decorated -- underneath -- with a full battalion of plastic army men, metal tanks, airplanes......