Big Holiday Spirit, Tiny Body

Thank You, Kind Sir

I realized a few days ago that I haven't posted photos of allllll of my Christmas trees for a few years, so it's possible that there are people reading who don't know just how much joy I get out of all things sparkly and bright. When I finish the last six trees, I will post photos of every last one of them.

That's not a typo. I have six left to finish decorating. I'm in the home stretch!

ANYWAY. Given that there is literally a tree in every window and then some at my house, I am very much so Team You Can Have As Many Christmas Trees As Makes You Happy. If that's one? Cool. If that's 30? Also cool.

And now we're on the same page. So, story time!

I had to venture to Walmart last week. It's a place that I go to probably 2 or 3 times per year and only because there are a couple of things that I can't get anywhere else. I mean, not even Amazon, which is also a form of the devil, can help me with these couple of things. While I was there, I ventured to the Christmas lights because of course I did. I'm having the kind of year where everything I plug in is burned out, so I could use all of the lights.

As I glanced at the garland, a voice caught my attention. "Ma'am? Can I ask you a question?" a man asked from just down the aisle.

He stood there with a cart full of merry and bright, donning a holiday sweater and all of the things that made him my instant friend. "Of course," I replied.

"So, I'm thinking about putting up a second tree. Does that seem like a good idea?"

You guys, I melted into a puddle of joy at that very minute. The man had no idea who he was talking to or how much I wanted to start jumping up and down and yelling, "YOU SHOULD PUT UP ALL OF THE TREES! ALL OF THEM!" I did my very best to be understated and calm as I instead replied, "If you want two trees, you should have two trees."

"Oh good!" he replied with a relieved sigh. "So I'm going to add this one," he continued, gesturing to the 4' tall tree in his cart, "but it's going to be in a hall right across from my main tree. Is that okay?"

Again, I melted into a puddle of joy. I -love- trees near one another. It's all happiness and good things if you ask me. I didn't want to tip him off that I'm a complete nut, though, so I calmly replied, "I think that would look amazing."

Ahem.

He continued, "Should I put ornaments on the second tree?"

Again, PUDDLE OF JOY. I mean, never in my life have I felt so very qualified to answer a series of questions posed by a stranger. Every day of my life, seemingly, a stranger talks to me and I want to run away. This man, though. I wanted to hug this man and his cautious embrace of Christmas joy. "If you want ornaments on it, you should absolutely put ornaments on it. It doesn't need to match the other tree, but it would be good if there were an element or two that was carried across both of them," I replied.

I break that rule, for what it's worth. I have two in the same room that have nothing in common. Do I care? Absolutely not. But I do know that it would make more sense if they had a color in common or something.

ANYWAY. I stayed on duty for a few more seconds to help them man decide between a few different boxes of ornaments and then he continued on his way.

He'll never know how very happy that conversation made the strange lady holding a few boxes of lights at Walmart, but hooboy. That was a highlight of the past few years FOR SURE. So, thanks Walmart stranger. You made my night.

Christmas Crazy is More Than Halfway to Done

Look at that #ChristmasCrazy total --------->

Well done, y'all. We've got ten days to get another $4000 worth of toys compiled. If history is to be trusted, we can do that. So, LET'S DO THAT. New items have been added to the wishlist, so maybe give it a glance? And don't worry if life isn't handing you mountains of money these days. Every little bit really does come together to add up to a big bit. For example, right now there are about 35 Kindle Fires gathered together in my dining room. They were sent by 18 different people. One thing here and another thing there and somehow we collectively manage to build a mountain.

You know, like this.

That's the 2019 pile, just for reference. We usually end up with a mountain that's about as wide as my dining room and about 7 feet tall. I would super love to have this year's pile reach the top of the Christmas trees, though. I think the rainbow tree is 7.5 feet tall, so we're not that far off ...

There's one other little thing that I need. If you have a kid, no matter what age, and they have their heart set on some specific toy, maybe drop me a comment or @ me on twitter? I would like to round out the wishlist with a few "must have" items that have been crowd-sourced. I've gotten lots of feedback from Center for Victims, but as always, they're mostly like, "Whatever is great! We're just so appreciative!" so let's put them in a position to be superstars in the eyes of some tiny humans.

Thanks so much for all of your help so far, and let's keep this thing going.

(If you're lost and would like some background on this whole magical thing, it's here.)