Humor is a necessity of a well-loved life, and I am finding it especially indispensable during this holiday season, a time we are ostensibly supposed to embrace with unbridled joy and good cheer, yet also a time that is cluttered with stress and uncertainty and good deal of tragedy.
(See: a U.S. president-elect who, to name just one of many alarming points, does not trust the CIA’s report of Russian interference with our election. See: the homeless people I pass every day in the street in increasingly colder weather. See: the brutal takeover of Aleppo.)
So, then, the vital need for humor! This week I found it in a homemade Christmas ornament.
A tree on a tree on a tree. Could it get more meta?
Christmas tree ornaments need ornaments too
I am grateful for a tree on a tree on a tree because it is playful and clever and especially because the idea came about in good company: my friend celebrated his birthday last weekend by having people over to eat empanadas and peach cobbler and to play Jenga and make holiday crafts.
First of all, that is my kind of party. Second of all…crafts! I immediately went wild with the sparkly pipe cleaners, fashioning custom Christmas tree ornaments for fellow party guests (an electric guitar, a snowflake, the planet Saturn—you know, the usual stuff).
Then I set about making an ornament of a Christmas tree for myself, remarking aloud how much I enjoyed the irony of making a tree to put on a tree.
“You should put a tree on the tree you’re making,” someone joked, except of course to me it didn’t sound like a joke at all.
So that is what I did. I fashioned a teeny tiny tree out of sparkly green pipe cleaner and then attached it to my slightly larger pipe cleaner tree, and then I hung the finished product on the tabletop tree in my apartment.
Holiday humor for the win
A tree on a tree on a tree! This phenomena has brought me an inordinate amount of pleasure and delight.
The ornament is simple, even silly, and easy enough to overlook. But every time I see it I laugh or smile, and that is an impressive return on my investment.
In other words, little things make a difference. Creativity flourishes in good company. And humor can be found wherever you choose to look for it.
Love > fear,
p.s. If you are on Team Fingers Crossed for #AYMBF, thaaaaank you! Your well wishes are working. Please keep them coming and I hope to have more details soon.