#51: "Ornamental Lights"

This letter from December 2017 kinda came up at work recently; a new hire really wants to decorate the office for the holidays. I told them to have at it with blessings, but I would politely decline to take part. I guess some things will never change.

I don't often set out to do jigsaw puzzles. If I'm at the beach or the lake and someone's started one I'll pitch in, but it's not me that suggests to start one. I've always been more of a word puzzle person or a number puzzle person. Crosswords, sudoku, word searches, and things of that nature that I can work on anytime anywhere are my favorites. I usually do them while eating breakfast.

Which makes me wonder how I ever developed a knack for tactile puzzles. Something breaks in our office and needs to be reassembled - Matt will fix it. Someone's ordered something and the directions suck - Matt will put it together. Need to build a needlessly complicated piece of theatrical scenery that's both ovoid and in forced perspective - turn on some thrash metal and give Matt the jigsaw.

I wonder if it's because as a child I always wanted to assemble the christmas tree. My family has always had fake christmas trees. The one my parents have now has built in lights, frosted tips, and comes in rings so you can make the whole tree shorter if you want. The one I remember from back in the 80's was very evergreen and very of that period - it was basically some heavy gauge coat hanger wire twisted into a spiral with green sprigs in the twists. Each piece came with a dab of colored paint on the end, and that's how you knew what set of holes it belonged in on the center pole. It was a fun puzzle that lasted maybe fifteen minutes.

As soon as the tree was assembled I was done. I don't ever remember getting in to decorating the tree. I wasn't tall enough to do the lights or any garland (my mom was too particular about them anyway), and picking out which little fragile item to hang on the tree didn't strike my fancy. To this day if I visit my family for Thanksgiving the tree comes out for assembly on black Friday (they don't go shopping). There's a new generation of kids to put it together, though, so I am relegated to spectator.

I don't mind, though. I'm still not one much for christmas decorations of any kind. I don't need to pay the exorbitant prices for real trees here in New York, only to throw them out in a month. I don't need lights, or candles, or the wreath on our back door (but you picked out a nice one, sweetheart!). I am far too cynical toward holiday decorations, but do not think for one moment that I don't like the holidays. I appreciate the exchanging of gifts and actually enjoy shopping for gifts for others. I look forward to the family time. I look forward to another meal like Thanksgiving but one where I feel you have more leeway to change the menu if you like. I look forward to a few days off work.

Maybe if I were more religious I would care more about decorations. Maybe if I lived in a suburb where I felt the need to compete with my neighbors I'd even put decorations outside. Maybe people saying to me "when your child is older you'll be more in to it" will actually come true. Maybe I just don't need flashing lights and ornaments to celebrate.