the fact is, if you're not right on top of this christmas thing, you kind of miss it, and i'm not only talking about trees, but just about everything else too. we waited until mid-december to get our tree - big mistake; i think most people had theirs cornered by thanksgiving. by mid-december the few that were left in the stores were all dried out and picked over, crooked, etc. we got the bast one we could, nursed it back to some life with lots of water, and brought it home for a couple of weeks. but it was about kilt by sitting on the showroom floor for so long, and all i could think of was, wait, if i'd got it a couple weeks earlier (thanksgiving, like everyone else) it would have spent a whole month in my living room by the fireplace.

at the walmart everything was looking pretty picked over and messy, whole shopping carts of stuff blocking aisles because the workers were too busy to reshelve. they had this entire room, maybe a gardening room, given over to christmas stuff, and it smelled pretty good, but it was kind of picked over too, had entire empty shelves, and one frazzled worker said, if you don't see it, we don't have it. i kind of enjoyed that room, i don't know why, some of that stuff was facing its zero hour; after all, it was christmas eve; others, might get stored away for eleven months, and come out again somewhere next thanksgiving.

for me, the entire month is one of going out for a lot of walks, and reflecting. for some reason everyone's garrulous decorations make me do that. i'm not much for going out, drinking, sharing revelry with others, or putting all details about what we have going on here, on facebook, where it becomes a social item. we're going to do illuminaria tonight, which involves putting sand in sacks and little candles, so that it glows up and down the block, but even then i'm not inclined to take pictures, post them, crow, etc. to me the driving force of the season is inward, not outward, and the cold weather encourages me to get out more, and enjoy the peace and quiet.

tonight, the town is quieter than usual; the dog next door has finally let up on his barking. his owners left town for the break and he's been having a rough time of it. we have too, since the traffic on the other side finally let up, and we were prepared for some peace and quiet, and this poor dog took it upon himself to fill our days with his yelping. our own dog occasionally got mad at the relentlessness of it all, but it was mostly me who really objected, because i'm a musician but haven't been able to play music. maybe i should lock myself in a basement and turn up the volume. i'm not sure how to handle the poor thing.

so, late at night, i'm here by the tree; the cats like the tree also. it won't last much longer, this tree; it's already pretty dried out. but it's done its thing, it appeared in some pictures, it smelled good, it gave the cats something to get tangled up in. it wasn't a perfect year, we missed a few things, but we did have illuminaria and cookies, and the kids as usual would get enough. that's all it takes, then you're off for another year.