Bowie Christmas tree revisited...?

Even before Billie ate actual trees, she gnawed on a lot of my favorite ornaments, which always amazed me - I put my precious collection of mini teapots higher on the tree (token attempt at dog-proofing?), so why did she reach past the boring cheap stuff and how did she know...? Did they smell like me? (Does she think teapots are extra cute, like I do?!)

When Marley was a puppy his preference was those cheap glass ball ornaments, especially if they had metal hooks. So many panicked calls to the vet, who just told me, in a how-many-million-times-have-I-heard-this-from-people tone, Give him some gummy white bread and it will work through his system. Now, why should I reward naughty Marley with food when he has eaten ornaments?! Not to mention, I don't have any doughy white bread in my house, since bourgeois me is trying to lose my small-town roots and not be Texan or even Southern...although who am I fooling, drinking Dr Pepper for breakfast... In Marley's first year I actually bought a small loaf of Mrs. Baird's to keep in the freezer - of course Marley was thrilled, never mind the sharp metal objects in his tummy, when I dragged it out to microwave for him. Anyway...

In 2006 we celebrated the 25th with my brother's family in Michigan, so we only put up our mini tree, on a bookcase top, with mini ornaments - too boring even for a dog to attack. The mini-tree was brought back in 2007, a no-decoration year since I went to Tomball for Christmas and Craig was in Australia for his cousin's wedding. In 2008 we were both in Hawaii with Craig's mom - we didn't even bother with the mini tree and it didn't make the big 4-mile move with us to Bowie Manor West.

So this year - it is time to have faith in dog and plastic and wiring, and to set up & plug in the tree we bought on sale after Billie's 2005 destruction.

Is it corny to say I can't wait?

I have figured out the perfect spot - against the white-painted brick wall in our garden room (not sure why Craig named it that - there is no garden, only wine and a china cabinet and more wine and a painting of flowers...and a deck outside with dead leaves that fall on it, and where people smoke cigarettes and watch smoke come out of a chimenea).

To make space, all we have to do is move the rolling table that's against the wall - voila! Christmas Tree Central! Oh, and Craig has to drag down the sections of the non-mini tree...that are larger than the mini opening to the attic.

I wonder if Billie is ready...if we are ready.