"Oh Yes We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute..."

I’ll admit, we’ve been lacking a little Christmas spirit around these parts lately.  I know I’ve mentioned once or eighteen times that work has been busy for both my hardworking husband and myself.  And because we’ve both needed to be close to the office in case we got called in (and our respective offices are a couple of hours apart), we haven’t been able to spend as much time together as we otherwise would have.   Kind of a bummer.

Back in November I ordered a live Christmas tree from the Boy Scouts.  I was so excited to start a great family Christmas tradition; I imagined we’d play Bing Crosby and sip hot chocolate or eggnog as we decked our ah-pah-tu halls, appreciating the twinkle of the lights of Seoul as we added lights to our lovely and pine-tree-smelling Christmas tree.  I had even purchased a Christmas tree stand, some ornaments, and some peppermint Hersheys kisses.  Alas, my Christmas vision was not to be.  There was a mix up with the Boy Scouts and they sold my tree to someone else—for the best I suppose, as it turns out.  My sweet husband hasn’t been able to come to Seoul since Thanksgiving, so any decorating that got done would be done by yours truly.  And to tell the truth, I was feeling worn out and grouchy, and guilty that I would be leaving my husband to go back to the States for Christmas, even though he was remarkably sweet about the whole thing.  At the same time, I knew I was just being a big brat—that Christmas isn’t about decorations and working hard isn’t something to complain about and I have too much to be thankful for to ever be justified in feeling sorry for myself.  And even if I wasn’t going to be with him, I at least wanted to put up some decorations for my husband to enjoy when he brought a bunch of soldiers down to Seoul.  So on one of my off-nights in Seoul, I chastised myself into some kind of holiday shape and headed out on a Christmas tree hunt.

I set out for the Express Bus Terminal Shopping Mall, which I had heard contained a big section of Christmas stores this time of year.  My sources didn’t lie—the Mall is a few long underground corridors between subway stations that are lined with shops selling everything from pantyhose to cactus plants, and it did indeed have a large holiday section.  A lights-flashing,tinsel-sparkling, santas-dancing, ajummas-decorating, holiday section.  It was a bit overwhelming.  I got sidetracked by the wrapping paper and bow store, and then by trying to find the perfect ornament for the Army Wife Ornament Swap, and then had to rush to find a fake tree before everything closed for the evening.

Let me just say, fake pinecones on a fake tree is really not my style, but you do what you gotta do.

I maneuvered my fake Christmas tree box back onto the subway, and somehow made it home without knocking anyone over.  I created a Christmas Pandora radio station—complete with Bing Crosby—and got to work.  

First order of business:  the pinecones have to go. 

That completed, I put the sections together, then took off all the little plastic sleeves.  I am still finding those little buggers in corners and under furniture, two weeks later.  My plastic tree was still looking a little sad until I bent all the branches around to mostly cover the metal rod in the middle.

And once I got the lights and ornaments on it, it was looking almost respectable.  I didn’t have garland or a tree topper, so I made do with sparkly wire ribbon from the wrapping store.  A table runner made a decent substitute for a tree skirt.

Not bad, huh?  I mean, it’s nothing like the beautiful live tree decked out with a couple decades’ worth of lights and ornaments that I’ll enjoy while I’m home in Alabama.  

But it did make me feel a little more merry.