The Grinch--and me

Cosmo followed me into the living room—a place ordinarily prohibited for him to enter. He was to be my companion as I put up the Christmas tree.

He then bore witness to my litany of God damn its as I realized that my pre-lit tree had a section near the top as well as a few random branches on the bottom that would not light.

It displeased me.

And so I went up to the third floor closet to find a string of lights to insert into the unlit sections to correct the problem. But the stored lights also had lighting flaws.

And thus Cosmo heard a few more God damn its uttered from my lips.

So in yesterday’s sweat clothes I drove in the slushy cold rain to the nearest box store to buy some new lights—which I accomplished quite quickly.

But I was still angry. The point of a pre-lit tree is that it is pre-lit. And I calculated that for the price I paid for that guaranteed to light realistic beauty from the high end holiday store I could have bought five live 9 foot Frazier firs from Hicks Nursery.

And then something caught my eye. It was an ornament of the Grinch standing next to his faithful dog Max.

It uncannily looked like Cosmo and me—so I bought it.

And suddenly I wasn’t angry anymore. My heart grew three sizes--- just like in the story.

I was reminded that Christmas meant a little bit more.

And when I returned home Cosmo was happy that I had not been out purchasing some plastic antlers for him to wear while we went out and stole Christmas. Relieved, he curled up in a ball near the base of the tree and slept.

So I inserted those missing electrified twinkles and sang to my faithful canine friend:

Fahoo fores dahoo dores
                   Welcome Christmas bring your light.