Oh Tannenbaum.... times 47

I've been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year (it seems to be a recurring theme).  At any rate about a week ago Peter dug out his 4 foot artificial Christmas tree from the back of the closet.  It came pre-strung with some white twinkly lights.  He finally got around to plugging it in yesterday.  I just didn't care.

This evening we went to see our friend Mary.  It's really hard not to get into the spirit of the holidays when you go see her.  You see.. she has this passion and it's Christmas.  She even named her daughter Holly.  Her passion though is really directed toward Christmas TREES.  When we arrived she greeted us with delicious hot cider (warming in a carafe suspended over a flame) and hors d'oeuvres.  Christmas music was piped throughout the house.  She really knows how to entertain.

A grass landing strip borders Mary's front yard.  It's 'garage' is an airplane hanger and the house is huge  The large garage is handy as she needs all the storage space to stash her decorations in during the off season.   You see, in her house she has 47 Christmas trees.  They come in sizes ranging from 2 or 3 feet to 18 feet.  Many are around 14 feet tall and they all have a theme.

She has a:

1. White tree
2. Blue tree
3. Violet tree
4. Green tree
5. Red tree
6. Pink tree
7. Black tree
8. Purple tree
9. Gold tree
10. Silver tree
11. Angel tree
12. Teddy bear tree
13. Copper tree
14. Snowman tree
15. Nutcracker tree
16. Undersea tree
17. Victorian tree
18. Candied fruit tree
19. Tea cup tree
20. Wild Animal tree
21. Moose and Bear tree
22. Scottish Tree
23. Peacock tree
24. Wreath tree
25. Travel tree
26. Garden tree
27. Peppermint tree
28. Sunflower tree
29. Wilma's tree
30. Jewelry tree
31. Bathroom tree
32. Snowed-in-for-a-week tree
33. My Fair Lady tree
34. Little Red Riding Hood Tree

.......and 13 more I can't recall the names of.  

Peacock Tree  - decorated in appropriate colors - all the peacock feathers were donated by Peter many years ago, when he had peacocks

Teddy Bear Tree  -  This tree is about 8 feet tall and has Teddy  Bears climbing up a ladder on one side.

Blue Tree - Peters favorite.  It's about 8 feet tall and exists because Mary had a blue chair and she needed something to go with it.  She doesn't really like blue.

Snowman Tree.  This tree is about 4 feet tall.

Copper Tree - this tree sits on a big wooden pedestal on her kitchen counter.  It's about 4  feet tall - but  the bottom of it is about 5 feet off thee ground.

Travel Tree - this tree is filled with mementos from her travels  throughout her life, including  postcards from across Europe from her best friend Wilma.

My Fair Lady Tree  

Violet Tree

Nutcracker Tree

White Tree

Teacup Tree  - filled with teacups and saucers from Mary's childhood

Undersea Tree

Bring on the fat man in the red suit.  I'm finally in the mood.

Santa Claus, North Pole

I found a perk! I am part of making little children's Christmas dreams come true. The Santa letters are starting to come through. Yesterday I picked up the cutest envelope with very bad printing addressed to:

 Santa Claus 

Santa's Workshop 

North Pole 

 I made sure that envelope was properly handled and is now winging its way to the jolly old elf. Today there was another. No matter how cranky I get with all the other stuff, I cannot suppress my smile at these letters.

I may be a quitter.

There was a day when I would get mad at my boss and threaten to quit, or at least I would run a scene through my head where I stand on a desk and sing that famous song by Johnny Paycheck, "Take this job and shove it.."  Those were always momentary urges that passed fairly quickly.

This new job has me wanting to quit every single day.  I just hate it.  I dread going to work and I seem to be living on excedrine.  Thank goodness they've started production on that again.

After that day that I cried I actually managed to complete my route by myself the very next time I took it out.  This event was celebrated by all my co workers as it was apparently quite a remarkable feat to be accomplished so early in a postal career.  My boss thought it was so swell he immediately started cross-training me on a second route.  That week I worked about 47 hours.  When I was hired I was told they would give me several months to learn my primary route before they exposed me to another.  Apparently if you show an apptitude they take advantage of you.   The first day I took the full load of the second route I was virtually abandoned out there.  It rained - but I had rain gear.  It was dark - but I had TWO headlamps.  I was trying to find mailboxes and houses in the dark, in the rain on a route I hadn't ever travelled before on streets I had never seen before in my life.  Someone finally became available to come and assist me and I still didn't get done until 7:30 p.m.  This time I didn't cry - I was just angry.  Really angry.  Not that it did any good.

This week they have me scheduled for at least 40 hours as well as working Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  There go my plans to see my kids over the holidays.  I'm angry again.  I don't like to be angry and I seem to be spending way too much energy controlling it.

This is not what I signed up for.  I don't want to work full time.  I don't want to work holidays.  I want to spend time with my children.  I want to spend time knitting and spinning and weaving and playing with my animals.  I want to, and I'm happy to, work a day a week.  I can even manage 2 days a week with a smile.  4 and 5 days a week make me want to belt out that Johnny Paycheck song at the top of my lungs while standing on top of my LLV.

I really like my co-workers and I even kinda like my bosses.   I hate to leave them in a lurch.  It's the hours and the job itself that make me cranky.  I guess I need to make a decision.

Now.. for something a little lighter: