The morning is warm, 51˚. The air is damp. The sun is muted by a cloudy sky, but every now and then its light shines through. The day has potential. A wind blows now and again, a wind strong enough to sway even the biggest branches. The dogs have been out most of the morning. Nala sits on the top step of the deck stairs and just watches. Henry comes inside. He never just randomly watches. Henry is the barker.

Yesterday I did my laundry. It only sat one day in the hall. That is so not usual, and I felt accomplished. At ten I had my uke lesson then got my hair cut, an unplanned stop. It was a good day.

This year I will have no big Christmas tree, only a tiny one with no ornaments and no tinsel garlands, just lights. I can envision Nala grabbing the tinsel and running with it trailing behind her into the back yard. I can see her playing dodge ball, or in this case tinsel ball, as I chase after her in the yard.

When I was a kid, I never noticed if the Christmas tree had bare spots where branches should be. With lights and ornaments, it was a wonder. Silver icicles hung down and swayed a bit when we walked by. The biggest ornaments my mother always placed were at the top of the tree. We put the rest of the ornaments wherever we could reach. The icicles were always last, and by then we were tired of decorating. Tossing bunches of icicles seemed to be the best way to finish, but my mother always stopped us. She told us the icicles should hang down one at a time like they do from the roof, from the gutters of the house. We didn’t care so my mother always finished. She was right about the icicles. They looked lovely hanging from the branches.

I dreaded my first Christmas in Ghana, my first Christmas away from home. My mother knew even though I wrote nothing about it. She sent me a package airmail which must have been really expensive. My Aunt Mary helped to pay for it, her gift to me. My mother told me she went to Woolworth’s in September for ornaments and such. They had to go down to the basement where Christmas was stored. I was thrilled when the package came before Christmas. In it was a small plastic tree, ornaments, a Christmas stocking, Christmas cookie cutters and brick looking crepe paper for a fireplace. Some of the ornaments came from our home tree. I remember a gingerbread house. I was so excited pulling each piece of Christmas out of the box. It brought joy for the season.

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