My Personal "A Christmas Carol"

Despite my rants about almost ending up with a Christmas tree, I still eventually ended up with a 5 feet monstrosity last week; barely 24 hours after snubbing Christmas. I must admit it does light up an otherwise empty corner in the living room. Less than a week later, the lights stopped working like they were intended and starting flashing harshly in an alarming manner. So that means more money needs to be forked out for new lights. Altogether I spent less than RM150 on a religious holiday that wasn't even mine to celebrate. But that's alright, I thought, maybe I just needed to get into the spirit of things and be a little less Ebenezer Scrooge for once. I had been disillusioned with Christmas since I outgrew my childhood. I think it started with the day my mom refused to put up the Christmas tree anymore which I believe is still in storage somewhere in the attic storage, being a gecko maternity hospital judging from the eggshells we find there each year when we do open the box.

"It would just be a fur trap," she said. The three dogs who were the main culprits for the furballs had long since passed on. The current two, one is practically a walking mop and the other had hair too short to gather furballs. Still, the old plastic tree stayed where it rests today - its memory so dim I could hardly remember how it looked like other than the fact it was probably colourful and tacky due to lack of a theme. So perhaps it was in memory of this forsaken childhood tree that I set the current one up in my present home. And that my folks is the allegory of the Ghost of Christmas Past paying me a visit.

So since now I have a tree, I thought perhaps I should expand on it and go on with the pot-luck party which I had been half-heartedly planning since 2 months ago. So for once maybe I could break a successive chain of depressive Christmasses by livening it up with friends. I even had a wonderful idea of using the tree to start a Christmas tradition for years to come. Maybe everyone could bring a special ornament of their own to put on the tree each year to mark their attendance. So gleefully I shared my idea with friends, but much to my dismay, all but one so far was enthusiastic about the idea. ONE. So screw you, Ghost of Christmas Present. Anybody thinking of making this idea of mine work, let me know. But please don't do this out of sympathy - I'm doing this to bring friends together and as a thanksgiving of sorts for each other. With Christmas looming less than a week away, I have a feeling that tree is going to stay empty for this year.

And if the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come decides to pay me a visit, I am slamming a spade flat out on his f*cking boney face.