{"id":5261,"date":"2013-12-19T18:58:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T23:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/?p=5261"},"modified":"2020-12-17T11:25:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T16:25:19","slug":"what-the-flock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/what-the-flock\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Flock?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Different things make the holiday spirit officially kick in each year. It might be the fun parties<\/a>. Could be the “cool” Christmas music<\/a>. Little pieces of plastic hanging from a tree. Maybe it’s the esoteric, homemade annual traditions. For me, it’s all the above.<\/p>\n

After this year’s the annual Trek to the Attic<\/strong>, followed immediately by the Hauling Down Heavy Boxes of Ornaments In a Most Unergonomic Fashion<\/strong>, the tree was up and it was decoratin’ time. I then realized – I remember this every year but then quickly forget – that many ornaments serve as little plastic time capsules:<\/p>\n

\"mouse_ornament\"<\/a>A hand-made ornament made from an old recycled computer mouse and purchased at a fundraiser by a very dear friend who left us a few years ago. She gave it to us on New Year’s Eve. We miss her. I wrote “Good Souls”<\/a> immediately after she passed.<\/p>\n

\"guide_dogs_ornament\"<\/a>A token from Guide Dogs<\/a> way back when we were volunteering in 2003. Pinky, our first guide dog, recently retired. Roma, our second, was dropped for a minor health issue. She’s now ten and spoiled, though she did have a brief career as a product tester<\/a> for West Paw Design. It kept her in free toys for awhile.<\/p>\n

\"enterprise_ornament\"<\/a>Though never much of a Trekkie<\/a>, I was smitten with ST:TOS<\/a> when I was a kid. My mom gave me this copy of the Enterprise space ship the year before we lost her. People tell me it’s a collectible. Like I’d ever sell it.<\/p>\n

\"tree\"<\/a>Our fake tree is pretty old and time capsule-y, too. My dad gave it to my wife and me after he decided he didn’t want a tree anymore. We’ve been using it for over 20 years. A few Christmases ago, we mulled over getting a nice flocked tree. Then we priced them and decided to stay with fake.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I was working at home and caught the smell of an auto shop wafting in from outside. But I was at home. Turns out my ever-resourceful wife – whom I adore, who never throws anything out, who insists on finding a home fix for everything, and who never reads this blog so I can pretty much say whatever I want – found an old can of white Rustoleum in the garage and flocked our tree herself. \"santa_mouse_rustoleum\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We still have our home-flocked tree. But now all touchups are done outside. It’s tradition, ya know.<\/p>\n