Goodbye T:3

I just participated in the fine activity known as "denuding the enormous-ass fire hazard in my living room." It took me almost 2 hours to strip the tree and carefully wrap and box the 8 gazillion ornaments that I insisted on hanging this year, but I don't mind doing it.

This year I got to participate in the hanging of my friend Michelle's ornaments, and while that was totally wonderful and festive, I couldn't return her lovely gesture. My ornaments are so fragile and so dear to me that I'd throw myself in front of a moving car for them. If someone else broke one...well, I couldn't vouch for their health. And I don't think it's fair to ask someone to help you with something that could end your friendship...or their life. So, for that reason, I almost always undo my tree alone. But that's nice, because I get to visit with each ornament myself, even the ones that Thomas hung, and say goodbye to them before their long hibernation in the closet.

I've mentioned it before, but there's something so beautiful to me about having ornaments from 4 families on our tree. I love that there are ornaments from our parents' childhoods and our own. For a while at Christmas I considered spotlighting an ornament on each blog post, but I couldn't decide between them. Should it be Aunt Adeline's monstrously huge glitter one, or my mom's santa that's so old it's translucent? Thomas' record ornaments, or the first ornament my mom gave me when I wasn't living in her house? The tiny balls from my grandfather's 5 and 10 cents store, or one of Thomas' grandmother's intricately painted ones? I love them all so much; Like a kid kissing all her stuffed animals before she goes to bed, I couldn't leave one out. What if it was sad?

This has just reminded me of the only tangentially related idea of food that is too sad to eat.

This will definitely be a numbered entry on the next "weird things about me" meme, or on someone's list of reasons I should be committed, but there are some foods that just look too sad for me to eat. First on that list is pigs in blankets. I don't mind Little Smokies as a rule, but once they are wrapped in dough, I can't eat them. Those poor piggies just curled up in their blanket for a nap and AARRRAGGGAGGGG! Now they're digesting. Also cornish hens. So Sad! And peeps. I love when other people mutilate them, but I can't bring myself to do it. Especially not with my teeth.