Day Five - Completion (the 12th Day of Christmas!)

I find it somewhat amusing that a lot of folks start counting the twelve days of Christmas prior to Christmas Day. The twelve days of Christmastide actually START on Christmas Day and extend out for twelve days.

Today... is the 12th Day. Amidst shots of tequilla and phone calls to loved ones, we are slowly dismantling our tree so that we can have it out on the curb in time for trash collection early tomorrow morning. In celebration of our beautiful tree (my darling son INSISTED on using his allowance monies to help buy a really really BIG tree this year, such a sweetie...said contribution was slyly applied towards his mutal fund ~_^ for being so contributory) we are dismantling it gently and celebrating the ones we love. As I am experimenting with light, albeit clumsily, I took a flashlight and Ozzie (my camera) and set to taking some snaps of this years batch of Christmas ornaments.

I have a lovely collection of ornaments, which I have been carefully collecting over the past twenty years or so. Gold and White and Red with flashes of Green, it's a lovely collection and each ornament is treasured. Every year I have added to the collection, carefully selecting just one more ornament to compliment the selection. I've never gone completely mad with my spending on an ornament, but there are some very lovely ornaments in the collection. This year, I never really got a chance to go out and find that perfect ornament. I trusted in fate that the perfect yearly ornament would somehow find it's way to us. I was simply too busy and didn't have the extra time to go off on a hunt for the perfect 'one', despite my best efforts to do so...

...then, one day, I came home to find two new ornaments on our tree. Two darling little japanese dolls, reminiscent of the ones my mother first got for me on a trip to this very City, back when I was a child. I had begged her to bring me a gift when she had traveled to the City (San Francisco) to visit with her long time friend and pen pal on an annual meeting. Upon her return, she presented me with a tiny box, in which two small Japanese dolls were nested, a male and a female. They were stacking dolls, and within them each lay nested several more tiny, painted dolls. When I walked past the tree, one day, I suddenly noticed an ornament that looked almost exactly like the male doll, save its little coat was red. Upon closer examination of the tree (I am exceedingly anal about my collection and know each ornament intimately) I noticed a second little doll, somewhat more feminine, but also dressed in red.

My dear sweet Boy's (my boyfriend) mother had gifted them too us...and two more perfect ornaments for this year's tree I could not imagine. We have loved our adventures in this marvelous city and the flavor of the far East does inspire us even now.

So as we pack away our Christmas treasure, to await next year's celebration, I bid you all a wonderous New Year filled with miracles and good fortune.

...and for this day, I bid you a fond goodnight.

xox