[img]1325|left|Alex Campbell ||no_popup[/img]Dateline Boston — Last weekend I began decorating the apartment for Christmas. Even though this year will probably be the leanest holiday season we’ll ever have, putting up the stockings and fake evergreen garland puts me in the spirit of giving.
The stockings are hung on our mantel. There are two made by my mom—first her own, when she was a child in the ‘40s, then mine, made in the ‘70s. I made one each for H and my two stepsons. A letter I dictated to Santa when I was 6 has been framed, and that goes on the mantel, too. A couple of years ago I got two wooden display trees from a store going out of business.
The newest Christmas decoration that graces our living room this year is an item I got after Christmas last year. It’s a 3-foot tall plastic tree, made with double-stacked Styrofoam cones covered with plastic leaves; it’s supposed to resemble trimmed hedges. It has round red ornaments glued to paper leaves—holly berries. The whole thing is held up by a metal rod attached to a square base. It’s the tackiest decoration here. Where did I procure this wonderful symbol of the holiday season? I picked it out of the trash of the Chinese food restaurant around the corner from where we live.
Thinking of, Yearning for Mom
Everyone in my immediate family has picked something out of the trash at one time or another and used it to adorn their living space. My mother once paid some local teenagers to hoist a real fire hydrant up three flights of stairs to her apartment. It stood grandly at the entrance, and was an instant conversation piece. Another time she took home a 4-foot tall wooden display of a duck, where it greeted visitors for many years.
Indeed, as I glance around my living room, I see a rocking chair taken off the sidewalk when my neighbor was moving. He was glad to see it go to a good home. What’s that on top of the bench as you enter my apartment? A life-sized plastic goose that used to be a lamp, but is now just a sculpture.
My mom taught me well. I think of her as I stare at the green and red monstrosity that rings with Christmas cheer this year. She would have liked my choice of adornment. Happy Holidays, everyone, and may you find something good in the trash come January.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
