Dweller on the threshold

Well, today we finally took down the Christmas tree. I never could remember what the “allowed” time-frame is for keeping it up after the holiday. I find it fascinating that such a thing exists. We just loved it up, maybe me more than the wife. Even though the red, green and blue lights were not quite the color they claimed, they were happy and nice. This was such a wonderful holiday. We had such a good time from finding our little sleepy city embracing it this year to picking up a tree to a most wonderful trip to Amman for what proved to be such an eventful couple of weeks.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. Our family had made a near tradition of going out and picking out a tree and cutting it down from a nearby Christmas tree farm. There were many wonderful trees. But I’ll always remember getting too close to a fire barrel (where they put wood inside a big oil drum and light it so folks can get around and warm up) and melting my Sears coat and glove. I was so embarrassed and sad. Plus I had to wear that sucker for another four months or so. It wasn’t a total loss, but it definitely didn’t look as new as it was.

There are many gifts I remember as well: Racetracks from Santa, my first bedroom stereo, etc. And we always had such wonderful stockings, my brother and I, each filled with sweets and other nick knacks.

As I got older somehow I got further from the joy of the holiday. It may have been my time in retail, always working right up to the last moment of the holiday, I’m not sure. Somewhere in there it became less special. Certainly our time in Doha last year was a topper. I remember feeling it was different when first in Amman, although I did enjoy this big drum and bagpipe explosion that happened at midnight Christmas Eve up the street from me at a local Catholic school.

Doha last year was stripped of any holiday cheer. We found a tree that year to pose with at a local “American” hotel, but there was hardly a decoration to be had in any store and nothing to note the season on the street. This year, I’m thankful, it was so different. It’s funny but I found that little fake Chinese tree made all the difference, connecting me with home and the holiday I so loved as a boy. It was a bit sad to take it down but hell, it’s practically February. I can’t keep it up forever can I?

This list is likely to be much longer for than I have space and time for tonight. So I’ll just begin with the changes that came even before we were married. One of the first changes was, oddly enough, wearing jewelery.

I’d not worn any since my high school ring nearly 15 years previous. And even that was only for a few months. I just never liked it on me. It always got in the way when I was fixing things, working on cars, fishing, camping and generally being me.

But soon after meeting Natasha, I learned she was leaving for school on a scholarship in London. We’d be apart for nearly a year. She gave me a ring to keep until such time as we could be together again. Since I couldn’t wear it because of the difference in finger size, I wore it on a chain around my neck.

I had to keep it kind of low-key because it could not be officially known that we were seeing each other so I wore it beneath my shirt as I made my way around the streets of Amman. I made a vow to keep it there until the day I married her. I wore that ring on its chain for nearly two years; it never left my neck. The clasp froze up on it at some point making even a desire to “get a breather” an impossibility. It mattered not. I never tried to remove it.

In May of last year we were engaged and I broke the chain around my neck and put on my engagement ring. I wear it to this day. I have had some small dramas with it, taking it off to shower and forgetting it for an hour. But the wife is quick to find it and put it back on my finger. It took me a bit to get used to having something on my finger. But I managed pretty well with the ring on a necklace so I think I’ll manage.

It’s quite possible I’ll never put on another piece of jewelery in my life. But this engagement ring is now my wedding ring and it looks just fine. I’ve actually grown accustomed to its presence and even think it looks good on my hand.

It’s interesting to me to realize that this woman came along and in the space of just a few weeks changed me into a wearer of jewelery. But I have to say that the choice of jewelery and the woman that asked me made all the difference.