The Christmas Ladder

(I have blogged about this previously - but for those who may have missed it...)

Many, many years ago my cousin and I stopped in to visit a friend. He was an eccentric genius. He was one of the smartest guys I ever met. But he was very anti-social and often kept to himself.

He did have a roommate, a ferret. I would sit on his couch watching my ankles, waiting for the long, skinny rat to shoot out and take a bite out of me. It never happened. I would just see a little shadow sprinting from one hiding place to another.

It was a couple weeks before Christmas and my friend had a tree with lights up in his living room. Well, it wasn't exactly a tree. It was shaped like a tree. It looked like a tree, especially in darker conditions when the tree was lit. But it wasn't a tree. It was a step ladder.

What?

Of course I had to ask, "What's with the ladder?"

He explained to me how he came to this idea. It was shaped just like a tree. He would not have to spend money on a tree that would drag needles all over his place. He would not have to water it every morning. He would not have to kill a tree and could feel eco-friendly about his choice.

I thought it was strangely genius.

Soon I had my own Christmas Ladder. I had an old woooden step ladder that was my Grandfather's. It was beat-up, had paint all over it, and really was safe to use in a traditional sense. But it had a lot of sentimental value to me.

I bought some lights and a couple ornaments and soon the first Christmas Ladder was proudly in place.

It became a tradition. In over 20-years I have never failed to set-up the Christmas ladder.

When Barb and Alyssa became part of my life I introduced Alyssa to my Christmas ladder upon our first holiday season together. She didn't seem to appreciate the tradition quite as much as me.

In fact Alyssa called her grandma to tell her that this guy was nuts. He was stringing lights on a ladder and didn't seem to have any plans to get a tree.

But I wouldn't let a Christmas go by for Alyssa without a real tree. I was just playing with her. Oh the Christmas Ladder was still displayed proudly. But I went out and bought a real tree as well. She sighed with relief. As long as Alyssa lived with us we always put up a real tree and a Christmas Ladder.

After we moved to Marietta I woke up Alyssa pretty early one morning. I told her that we were going to have the Christmas Ladder lighting ceremony and would like her to do the honors. With sleepy eyes she looked at me with a crooked smile. She plugged in the lights. Barb and I oooohed and awwwwwed with delight.

Alyssa looked at me. She laughed. She went back to bed.

This year Barb didn't really feel like going out and getting a real tree. We do have plenty on our plate right now. I thought about it. I was in the mood to get the Christmas mood in the house. But then I asked Barb, "Why don't we just do the ladder? That's all I ever did anyway until I met Alyssa."

Barb agreed. The Christmas Ladder was positioned and strung with lights yesterday. I love it!