I put up the tree.That's no longer one of my favorite things about the holidays.
It was fun when my kids were young because it represented Santa's impending arrival. It was the showcase for their handmade ornaments throughout the years. I have good memories from those days and it was great times spent together. The huge tree was always decorated with most ornaments placed no higher than little hands, stepping on tippy toes could reach. The weighted branches hung low.
Still, even though they are all grown up, the tree comes out each year.
Last year the thought exhausted me. Because of the size, it takes two days to accomplish this feat. So, instead of my traditional tree, I bought a prelit, smaller one.
Instead of the years of collected handmade and Hallmark ornaments, I bought boxes of red and gold glass balls. I kept it simple. No bows or ribbons. Just a few gold curling accent twigs. The tree went up in less than two hours.
This year, I did the same thing. Except I had Bently and Quinn following my every move.
When I was done, I tried to get them to pose in front of the tree.
Quinn has selective hearing. He's old and probably flips me off in his mind several times a day. He was not going to pose with a tree or with his huge house mate.
Ben, on the other hand, is just a little over 2 years old and is still eager to please. Also, he will do just about anything for dog treats. He listens quite well and is patient with my effort.
So here's our attempt.
I called him over to the tree.
He sat, just as I asked.
I came closer, realized the flash shouldn't be on.
I told him to still sit there.
He sat.
"Crap, stay there Ben, this one is so blurry."
The tree is on one of those spinning bases.
Not happy, but he sat.
Still blurry, I think it's the spinning base.
"Stay there Ben." And he did.
"Ben ... hey where ya going?"
"Give me a few more tries!"
I give up, this is as good as it's going to get!
Bently held his patience with me for about 10 minutes.That's longer than I could, trying to figure out the camera.
