oh, christmas tree, oh, christmas tree

Something that I rarely ever, ever do is begin Christmas decorating before Thanksgiving. Well this year I did. Thanksgiving was quiet, just Todd, Patrick, and me, and the guys were going to watch football for a good part of the day, so why not get a jump on decorating? 

See that mitten at the top of the tree? That's been my tree topper for fifteen years. Here's the story: First, to let you know, we have artificial Christmas trees because a couple of our kids have pine allergies. Fifteen years ago, our Christmas tree bit the dust and we needed a new one. At 8:30 in the morning I was out the door to WalMart to find a tree. No luck. Onto Meijer...found one but it was a bit pricy. Sears came to mind so onward to the Dayton Mall. I found my tree...but none were in stock. A very nice salesman looked online to see if any were available in the area stores. No luck. He sat down at the computer and typed in the information at sears.com and found one! I completed the transaction and as I thanked him, I looked at his name tag. This helpful salesman's name was Howard. My dad retired from Sears and his name is Howard. (He passed away in 2002). I do believe I met a Christmas angel that day and also had a little wink from heaven. 

Now for the mitten. That mitten belonged to my dad. It's heavy duty and so warm and he wore mittens like that to keep his hands warm during the bitter Chicago winters. My dad also loved Christmas and even though the tree has to be replaced every so often, his mitten will always be the tree topper.