December 6, 2004 - From Ms. Mary to friends:
Well, today I decided it was time to put up the fake tree I bought last year. I assumed there really was a tree in the sealed box that had set in the corner for 12 months. When I opened the box, there was. So far; so good. It took nearly an hour to get it together and ready to decorate, but it was worth it 'cuz the darn thing actually doesn't look too bad. It might have taken longer, but I was wearing my Beary Christmas baseball cap with the little fuzzy ears and my Kissing Bears apron . . . and I had help from the menagerie. I did all the physical labor, and they were in charge of the "ooh-aah" part. They did their job quite well -- oh, look, the few that are still awake have read over my shoulder and are grinning from ear to ear -- and I think I did just fine with my part, too. Branson spoke up when I seemed to be putting more ornaments on one side of the tree (not his side) than on the other side. KatieBear gasped when the little white teddy bears started spinning on their strings. And TaraBear asked that the little crystal angels be put where she could see them. Most of the family have never experienced Christmas so they had no idea what to expect. I had to confess that I really didn't know what to expect each year any more because things keep changing.
Last night when I was wrapping the gifts from Santa Claus to take with me to Phoenix, I started the Christmas explanations. Lex is the sleepiest bear I have ever met, and he managed to stay awake until all four boxes were wrapped. I heard him whisper to Patriot Bear SIR (because they all think he knows everything), "What's she doing?" And, of course, Patriot Bear SIR has been around the block enough to be able to answer that I was wrapping a present. Then came the questions "Why?" and "What for?" and "Who for?" and so on. I took pity on the poor fellow and said these were gifts for me and my son and my mom and my dad and they were from Santa Claus. Uh-oh! I was up until 2 AM explaining Christmas and Santa and gifts.
When my son Todd was in 5th grade (about 22 years ago), he asked again on Christmas Eve, "Is there a Santa Claus?" and this time he really wanted to know. So I told him Santa wasn't a real person who came down the chimney at night, that Santa Claus is anyone who does something for someone else at Christmas and doesn't take the credit for it. That person gives presents and signs the tag "From Santa Claus" and that person dresses up in a red suit and makes little kids happy and that person does all kinds of other nice and fun things at Christmas. I could see the little wheels turning in Todd's head. He looked at me and scrunched up his eyes and said, "You fill our stockings and buy the presents?" I nodded. Then his wheels started turning again. He said, "Can Allan and me be Santas?" I nodded. He made me promise that I would wake him up when it was time for Santa to come so he could fill Allan's stocking and put Allan's presents under the tree, and then he would go back to bed and I could wake Allan up so Allan could fill Todd's stocking and put Todd's presents under the tree. Todd said that was the way to do it because Allan was blind and wouldn't be able to see what Todd had done.
When I took the boys upstairs to tuck them in bed, we got as far as the doorway to the bedroom where their dad was already sleeping and Todd came to a screeching halt and motioned for me to bend down. He whispered, "Does Daddy know?" I had all I could do to nod my head. I wanted so badly to laugh and laugh and laugh but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I'm giggling now. And the menagerie thought it was really funny, too, after it was explained to them a couple of times. There are a few sleepy grins up there now as they read this, but they are pretty much all pooped out from oohing and aahing their first Christmas tree. Mr. Valentine fell asleep with his front paws firmly gripping Mr. Vegas' tail, even though Vegas was sound asleep sitting up. That little purple zebra hung over the edge of the bookshelf for a couple of hours watching me string the lights and hang the decorations. We have 300 tiny clear lights on our tree -- and the lights reflected in all the shiny round eyes gazing in wonder and awe at OUR tree. Just for good measure, we have two tiny white teddy bear ornaments hanging on the tree.
My tree looks great. I have seen the admiration in the eyes of the menagerie. I think one reason they so easily went to sleep after our big night is that they want to be awake in the morning to see the lights go on. I put the tree lights on a timer, so the lights will be on while I get ready to go to work in the morning and they will be on again when I get home from work in the evening.