Six Sentence Sunday—Savoring the Christmas Tree

This week’s snippet for Six Sentence Sunday comes near the end of Chapter 56 of Little Ragdoll, “Finally a Real Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Adicia has never had a real Christmas tree before and is loath to take it down, but Justine feels they should leave it up till after Orthodox Christmas, to milk it for all it’s worth. The trees they had growing up were salvaged from the garbage dump after the Western Christmas, since they were too poor to afford a proper tree for the Christmas they actually celebrated.

***

While Mr. and Mrs. Troy always put up their Christmas tree after the Western Christmas and took it down after the Orthodox Christmas, Adicia is starting to think about taking hers down on the Orthodox Christmas, which falls on the first Saturday of 1973.  She’s standing admiring the lights, colored bulbs, pinecones, birds’ nests, strings of popcorn and cranberries, tinsel, and holiday-themed ornaments and wishing she could leave the tree up forever when she hears the letter carrier putting the mail in the slot.

“Are you gonna get the mail or should I?” Justine asks. “I think it’s okay if we leave the tree up for one more week.  I don’t wanna rush taking it down immediately after the last part of the holiday season passes.  Let’s savor it for just a little while more.”