North Maple Rag

with a cozy little living room and a big cozy couch. Years ago, my mom searched and searched for an artificial Christmas tree that would fit that room. This is what she found:


Yes, our Christmas tree could use a sandwich. That said, I miss it. You can see the corner of one of my brother's Christmas stocking on the wall. We used to check our stockings every morning before school because Santa inexplicably felt it was okay to make several trips to our house. Christmas at my house is comprised of traditions. One of them is my mom's decorations. She always puts them up the weekend after Thanksgiving and she always goes all out. Here's her Christmas village and part of the angel collection (please note that I made at least one of them):


Anyway, I miss it and I'd much rather be there than here. Although, I'm feeling a little bit better since I noticed that Folgers is still airing that commercial where the big brother comes home early in the morning at Christmas and only his little sister is awake. They make a pot of coffee. The mom is awoken by smell, comes downstairs, sees her son, and says, "Peter!" They embrace.

Love it. Now all I need is that awful (but awesome) "Feliz Navidad" commercial from Taco John's and the season will be complete.