We’ve Got Options

It’s getting pretty close.  Last weekend other things go in the way.  There’s only six days left till Christmas so today both agree to go and find a tree.  Our first Christmas back here in a long while, we will also need a tree stand. In Beijing it was getting pretty sparse last year.  I don’t have to look back at last year's entry to remember the Christmas tree lady, nearby the bridge over the fetid canal only had two or three trees left.  “Whatdya think?  All the laowai have left.”  She asks for $120.00 and you say: “I’ve been coming to you for ten years?  $80.00 and not a penny more.” This, even though she, herself, might not have been here last year and she can’t distinguish you from any other foreigner she may or may not recall from last year.  You put the cash in her coat.  She refuses, you come to an agreement.  The tree itself is loaded, dirt and all on to a scooter and driven over about twenty-minutes later and three men lug the tree, potted in a green wooden tub, dirt and all into your living room. 

We’ve got options in New Paltz.  Over at Lowes we considered multiple tree stands and chose something that looked just like the one we have in storage back in Beijing.  We got more bird seed, some Christmas lights and a bunch of mousetraps too.  They had trees all lined up but this late in the year it was slim pickings.  No matter, our plan had been to visit the Balsam Ridge Christmas Tree Farm, down South Street from Lowes.  It was a lovely drive down but cresting up to the bluff upon which this farm was located it was immediately apparent that the only trees they had left were next year’s aspirants.   We considered going in and asking but everything looked deserted, so we cut back down the road without stopping. 

Mercer Farms near our house had trees and we went back there.  But the trees were all under six feet tall: “Yeah.  It’s too late in the year.  I don’t think anyone has anything tall left.”  I groaned when my wife suggested we head back to reconsider the Lowes’ stock.  We did anyway and reconfirmed that the trees were all too short and thin.  My wife was heading over the river to pick up our daughter.  That place we’d visited yesterday in the old Montgomery Wards’ mall will have a better selection than anything we’ve seen here. She was worried they’d need to tie the tree on to the roof.  “If you buy it tonight, I’ll go pick it up tomorrow.”

At home I made two pizzas.  I have the pre-made dough.  I know what the visual looks like for spinning pizza dough into a proper pie.  I ought to practice.  I have the hairy arms for it.  Every time I try, which is once or twice a month I just give up after an initial spin, feeling ridiculous, and pull it out into something like a circle, which is fine except the center gets to thin and when you pull it out of the oven and cut them into triangles the toppings prove too heavy for the thin crust.  And on one of the two pies, that is what happened tonight.   

My wife surprised and brought the tree home with her, wrapped up, in the car.  At least our tree’s up.

Thursday 12/19/19