Here in Honduras, Christmas begins right after Halloween (actually decorations are in the stores way before that, but the trees aren't up until the masks are down). Last year we were so eager to be home for Christmas that we didn't even think about putting up a tree. However, this year, as the "Big Lots" of Tegus (also known as "Estock") began putting out the Christmas decor, Colin and I were bit buy the Christmas bug. So, we bought our first artificial tree ever (real ones are no longer sold due to de-forestation). It was just lovely as we looked it over. Little did we know that the muchacho would pack up the wrong tree.
We invited our buddies, Mike and Mavis, over for a little Christmas cheer and began the process of readying the tree. Within I'd say about 30 seconds, the tree was assembled. Colin's facial expression was none too impressed. A small, puny tree stood before us that wasn't even as tall as he was (we thought it was 7-8 feet when we bought it...). However, since Estock does not take returns..and everyone was already in the Christmas mood, Mavis convinced us that it would work, that it would be beautiful decorated, and she started untwining the lights. Mike got out the ornaments, and I started popping the popcorn for stringing! It wasn't long, but as the Christmas music played, the cheer spread, and soon enough, we had ourselves a fully decorated Christmas tree--and as Colin smushed it up against the wall, the tree actually looked a little more fuller ("a 2D view" he said).
We enjoyed some gluten-free lasagna, ate some leftover popcorn, and watched Elf to end our Christmas cheer just right. And as it started raining outside, I felt that Honduras had given us its little gift of "snow." So with Thanksgiving holidays within our sites and Christmas vacation just a little further away, I think we're ready to celebrate this year, even with our Charlie Brown tree.
