I've come to terms with the fact that my Christmas tree is one only a mother could love. I mean, I know I went on and on about how beautiful it is in spite of its flaws and all that, but the truth is it has issues. I've piled on the ornaments and decorations to pretty it up, but it remains misshapen and awkward. Thin in back, paunchy up front. Drinks a lot. Holey in spots. Hmm. This is sounding very familiar. I think I love Ugly Tree more than I should, and am so proud of the damn thing, because it's something I made happen all on my own. I look at it standing here and can't quite figure out how this worked out okay, but it did. I feel like having a party in honor of Ugly Tree. Everyone must see it!

Oh, another good thing about Ugly Tree is that I think it makes the little neighbor kid (three or four years old) across the driveway happy. The tree is in front of my sliding glass doors, and I have the curtain down where it's at, so he has a perfect view from his living room. Sometimes I see him looking when I'm heading out, and he gives me a big grin and a wave. He's so cute!

So, a gift I'd ordered for my sister in early December still hadn't arrived this week, and I couldn't tell from the company's site whether or not it had shipped, so I tried calling to find out. Here's what happened.

1st Call: Waited on hold at work for about 15 minutes. Finally needed to hang up, so I opted to send an email with my question, since their business hours are only during my work day.

2nd Call: Still no email response the next day, so tried calling again. Got recording that said staff is currently in a meeting to develop strategies to better serve customers, so please call again later. (I am not making this up.)

3rd call (next day): Got recording that said office is closed and will be open during the listed business hours, even though I did call during those times. Hmph.

Luckily, her gift arrived today, so I don't need to make another attempt. I just love that they had a recording that basically said "We're in a meeting to figure out how to better serve you, so call back later, sucka!" Classic.

You may remember that I will be off to Tahoe in a couple of days for Christmas but back before New Year's. I still have a bad attitude about New Year's, unfort. Even though I have party invites, and Em mentioned a couple of good shows around town, I'm kind of tempted to just curl up in front of Ugly Tree with a bottle of Veuve and a couple of good movies. Maybe I'll even lip-sync to "All by Myself," in manner of Bridget Jones. Just kidding. It's not that I'm down and out about the holiday; I'm just eh about putting in the effort to make it fun. It happens. But, I'm sure when the day arrives I'll be singing a different tune, and it will be party, party, party for Megan.