Christmas a challenge for this control freak

Most people who pass me on the street or visit my house wouldn?t guess that I?m a control freak.

There, I said it. I like certain things done a certain way (my way, of course) at a certain time (when I say so) and in a certain place (don?t you dare move my cutting board). I?m getting a little better about it. As long as it gets done, I can fix it my way later, after I stop muttering about it.

Christmas snuck up on me this year. Of course, it?s one of the things I?m most controlling about. I want a certain kind of fresh tree that is just the right height and put in just the right place.

The lights have to thickly cover the tree with no bare spots. There can be no faded or wrong colored lights. The ornaments have to be hung just so?no two colors, sizes, or shapes can be side by side. The colors must follow the approved code.

The holographic tinsel (carefully saved from years past) must be applied evenly and sparingly with no wadding.

Pretty much it boils down to me telling darling hubby where to put the tree, then making everyone stand way back while I decorate it to my satisfaction, having fiddled with it for hours. I still find bare spots days later that drive me bonkers until I fix them.

Then we had kids. Sure, the first few years were easy. ?Nope, you?re too little.? ?No, you?ll break the glass.? ?Here?s some hot chocolate. Watch mommy.?

It didn?t take long until those little fingers were itching to help, breakable ornaments and hot chocolate bribes not withstanding.

With deep sighs and pursed lips, I let them hang some ornaments. But only where I showed them. That went over like a lead balloon, as you can well guess.

More deep sighs the next year and I realized that kids really like walking around a tree with a ball of lights. Eureka! I could place them while the kids got some exercise. Until they got bored halfway down the tree. Deep sigh.

Last year, we decided to do something different with the tree. GASP! We?re fans of the British science fiction series ?Doctor Who,? so we decided to make a Dalek tree with the materials we already had.

It?s rather hard to explain a Dalek to people haven?t seen one, but I?ll try. They look like overturned trash cans with half-domes for heads, an eyestalk like a camera lens, and light bulbs down their sides. For arms, they have appendages that look remarkably like a plunger and a paint roller without the cover.

The kiddos were beside themselves with excitement. We trimmed the top of the tree to a rough semicircle and covered the entire thing with lights. We rigged a gooseneck lamp for the eyestalk, wired in a brand new plunger for one arm, and balanced a paint roller through the tree for the other arm.

The kiddos got to hang the ornaments in lines down the sides. They were in seventh heaven. I was telling myself that it might not be so bad after all to let them do SOME decorating.

This year, the clamor began. Of course, they suggested some outlandish characters and themes. Since I?ve been having health problems lately, an elaborate tree just seemed impossible. So I brainstormed. What do we like that we can make out of a tree? What can we do with what we already have? Will our new cat leave ornaments alone? Most importantly, what can we do that the kids can do most of the decorating?

Then it hit me like a beak to the shin. A Cluckmas tree! A tree decorated like a chicken! Brilliant!

When hubby brought the tree in, he saved the trimmed limbs from the bottom, bundled them together, and jammed them into the lower side of the tree to make a tail. The kids got put to work making ?feathers? out of tissue paper, glitter glue, and floral wire.

I set to making the comb, eyes, wattles and beak out of tissue paper, floral wire and tape. (That beak was a nightmare, let me tell you!) All I had to do then was give them general guidelines on where to stick the feathers in, defray a few fights over who got to do more feathers, and bask in the glory. No glass ornaments were required, but this chicken is going to lay some pretty strange looking eggs, me-thinks.

Nope, it?s not my typical ?model of perfection? tree. Still, it?s unique, it?s fun, and it taught me another lesson. Looking for imperfections to fix is a never-ending job. Looking past imperfections to enjoy the memories is always a better choice.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all…and for my chicken friends, I wish you a very Merry Cluckmas. May your flocks be healthy, your eggs always fresh, and may you enjoy simply spending time with your dear ones.

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