O, Christmas Tree

The cookie party last Saturday must have put us in the holiday mood because the day after we put up our tree and Sparky decorated the rest of the house for the holidays. For two people who don't go to church or recognize any of the religious mumbo jumbo that goes along with Christmas we sure as hell have a shit load of holiday decorations. And when I say shit load, I mean we have five big boxes and four and a half totes full of Christmas stuff.

Now I'm sure some of you are scratching your heads and wondering why two non-believers would decorate for Christmas and put up a tree. Well it's like this kids, we're both cultural Christians, that is both our families went to church and professed to believe in Christianity as we grew up. Along the way Sparky and I grew out of the need to believe in that stone age stuff. For me, and maybe Sparky too but I really can't speak for her, Christmas is about celebrating the past year and showing family and friends how much you love them. It's also about spending time with and maybe some money on those you love. I like to give presents because I like making people I love happy. I don't go overboard like I used to, mainly because I don't make as much money as I used to, so now I put more thought into what I give to people on my list. I'm also more charitable this time of year, especially when I see the Salvation Army kettles, because when I was a poor kid growing up in the projects in Detroit we were on the receiving end of more than one charity during more than one Christmas.

Anyway, here's a few shots of the Christmas tree we have up at el Casa de Monkey (and yes, it's a fake tree):We have a lot of toy type ornaments, cloth birds, snowmen, and Santas.

That's one of my favorite ornaments, the bushy beard Santa on the bike. We have three of them and when I see them they always make me smile.

Would you look at that? Someone stuck a mini Halloween sock monkey on the tree! Who would have done such a thing?
Probably the same person who hung the other mini sock monkey on the other side of the tree. That red star a new tree topper we got just this year. I really like it. It gives the tree a "Communist" look, especially when you stand back and see all the other red ornaments. Hey, now that I've shown you mine, maybe you'll show me yours.