Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for December 19, 2010

Love that ornament, Dad!

But you’ve only just begun. You may need another brick.

I just want whirled peas, oops I mean world peace.

We used gift-wrapped bricks on an oversized base to keep the cats from knocking the tree over!

Chikuku:

http://www.thefind.com/family/info-stegosaurus-dinosaur-plush

How about a stuffed Pangolin?

Mark herb down, he wrote pangolin……….. bleeep so did I.

For years I’ve been sticking ornament hangers in walnuts and hanging them on the tree (with a little yarn bow on each). Last year I decorated a wreath with nothing but nuts of various sorts, and put a little toy squirrel (with Santa hat) in the middle. Very cute…

fritzoid, after the holidays you could bring in a real squirrel to remove the decorations so you wouldn’t have to.

My Mom has amassed so many ornaments over the years that it requires three trees to hold them all and, along with all the wreaths and the small Manzanita tree full of ornaments, it is like walking into a Christmas forest when I visit.

Oh I love this one! Wish we had had that ornament the year our tree fell over!

My ex-girlfriend has a thing for squirrels (she’s Australian, and considers them exotic wildlife). She was here last year for Christmas, and I bought her a silver charm in the shape of an acorn, which opened up to reveal a tiny silver squirrel. A week before Christmas I put a small gift-wrapped (but empty) box under the tree. I put the charm itself into a hollowed-out walnut shell, and taped it in the paws of the toy squirrel in the wreath.

Christmas morning, before she got up (I’m an early riser anyway), I tore open one corner of the empty box, sprinkled shreds of tissue and a few nutshell shards around it, and made a little trail to the floor under the wreath. When my girlfriend came out and saw the box, she freaked for a few minutes, because she legitimately thought we had been visited by rats (or robbers). From my own shocked – SHOCKED! – expression, she figured out something was up, but I still had to draw her attention to the trail of debris to the wreath, where she noticed that the walnut in the squirrel’s hands had a ribbon that hadn’t previously been there.

Most fun I’ve had Christmas morning since I was a kid…

fritzoid, that’s so adorable! what a great story!

doctoon, did you take a picture of that tree?

Fritzoid, what a great present and presentation!

fritzoid, nice gesture on your part. It is always nice to surprise someone that you care about.

Fritzoid, all that work, and she still is an ex-gf?

andymeijers, the long-distance thing killed us. If I were to move out there, she’d have to prove she could support me for two years before I could get legal residency and permission to work, even if we married right away (and since my career involves knowledge and application of State and Federal Civil Procedure, my skillset wouldn’t have translated well anyway; if you’re over 40, Australia really doesn’t want you unless you have an in-demand job). If she were to move here, she’d have to sever her ties with her family and a lifetime’s accumulation of friends, and sell two houses. (I love my own family, but I only see them once a year; I also have no friends.)

I have an income but no property, she has property but no income. In this economy, it was unwise for either of us to give up what we have. We’re also both pretty set in our ways, and while I’m great at the Grand Gesture, I’m not that easy to live with. If we had been able to “date” for any period of time, we might have worked something out, but as it was we only spent about 18 weeks in each other’s company, spaced out over an 18-month period.

It was a mutual decision to call it off, but my own mind was made up when the knowledge that I had a girlfriend in Australia wasn’t strong enough to keep my from looking for someone here. I never actually cheated on her, but given the opportunity I would have, and I wouldn’t have been able to keep that from her.

We’re still in touch (when I was home for Thanksgiving we talked for a long time, and I passed the phone around to all my family, who adore her), and in the Spring I’m planning on visiting her again, on both ends of a planned longer exploration of Australia (the two weeks I spent there in 2009 were all spent in and around Sydney).

I agree with Andy; so much effort and you are exes? I’m still hoping that my old BF will live here (at least PT) and be …

Very nice thing you did on that Christmas and it’s good that you are at peace with the decision to end the relationship, Fritzoid. Many people are not honest with themselves and it’s a big reason that many of those relationships don’t last.

@ Doctor Toon - what a wonderful tree idea! I’d say you saved Christmas with great success. :)