Conversation with My Wife (119)

Cue the theme to “Charlie Brown’s Christmas”

Backyard is bare, the stream is off (the pumps get pulled because freezing is a bad thing for them), the flowers are dead and gone.

Our backyard, with the plants trimmed down and the stream turned off. That’s the “terrace” up the steps. It’s a flat area that can hold a couple chairs. OR AN INFLATABLE DECORATION. If you wanted to. Just saying.

Must be getting close to Christmas!

My wife and I like Christmas. Although we have different points of view, as nobody who has read any of this series will be shocked to learn.

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Conversation with My Wife (71)

Conversation with My Wife (75)

So, for example, when we went shopping for a Christmas wreath for our front door, one of us thought that an inflatable dragon with a Santa hat and present, breathing animated fire, would be THE thing for our backyard. (When we had our backyard landscaped, they thoughtfully added an extra electrical outlet on the terrace in case we wanted to have power. IT WAS A SIGN!) The other person did NOT think it was a good idea. Notice that this photo is of the dragon still in the store, NOT on the terrace. Nuff said.

$99 at Home Depot! How could you pass that up?!

But we got a nice wreath for the front door.

We used to have a green door. A green wreath with a red bow looked like somebody had stuck a red bow on the door. Badly. The new color on the door works much better as a backdrop.

DEB: Really, if you spread out the cost over five years, an artificial wreath is much cheaper than a real wreath. And it won’t shed all over our front hallway every time we open the door starting two weeks from now.

And then it was time to decorate the tree. It was a happy/sad thing, because it’s fun to remember the reason behind ornaments, but also there were ornaments that we inherited from Deb’s mom when she passed in 2016 (Dad died five years earlier).

My favorite. For our wedding cake we had a bride and groom bear for the cake topper, so bride & groom bear for our first married Christmas seemed perfect.

Strictly speaking, Deb was an administrative assistant at this point in 2001 (seriously, there’s a difference), but you get what you can get, right?

In 1999 Deb’s dad surprised Deb and her mom with a hot air balloon ride. I had only just met Deb, so I wasn’t invited along (Deb & Mom did the balloon, Dad joined the chaser crew) but I did get a great story at work.

Deb was a member of a group who did clown ministry at her church. She has numerous clown ornaments and mementos. Remember that bride & groom bear? At our wedding, after seeing the bears, our PA niece (then nine, now married) told me quietly, because I needed to know these things as a new family member, “Aunt Debbie likes clowns.” Not an accusation, more like, “In the future, try not to screw up again, okay?” Because adults don’t learn these things unless pointed out by kids, right?

We went with two nieces and Deb’s parents to France in April 2001. Part of the trip was to Dad’s grandfather’s home town in Pontivy, Brittany, but also, of course, Paris.

Deb and her parents LOVED watching professional ice skating, back before they met me. They made trips to watch live shows. Still some of Deb’s happiest memories.

Deb got this because she said I was her “white knight” who rode in and swept her off her feet. Who am I to argue? (Although you know what a white knight needs to fight? AN INFLATABLE DRAGON.)

The tree, decorated and lighted. It will stay up at least through New Years because we have our California niece and nephew coming to visit us then.

DEB: (looking at the tree and other decorations and giving a big sigh) I do so like Christmas, honey!

Copyright ©2018 by Jack Herlocker. All right reserved, although I am willing to enter into an amicable trade of intellectual property if an inflatable Christmas dragon is on the table.

Conversations with My Wife (collection)