The Tree Bears

It’s a ratty little tree, but the bears love it.

Every Christmas, Ter and I struggle to recall how a string of fifty lights the previous year was enough to light up a two-footer when we need six feet of beads to effect the appropriately effortless drape. Answer: string the lights in a zigzag pattern from top to bottom instead of winding them around the circumference.

It helps that this tree is missing a lower branch. The “tannenbum”, as it’s called, faces the corner, so all that really needs decorating is the part that can be seen. Fifty lights will do the trick if you’re crafty about it, and Ter is an expert light-stringer.

The second of our three Christmas trees to go up each year, this one is known as the little bears’ tree because most of the ornaments are—you guessed it—bears. Crystal clear bears, coloured glass bears, tiny polar bears, and painted wood bears dominate, though a few other critters adorn its scrawny branches. Red and silver balls shine in the shadowed spaces, and we always hang one or two on the very lowest branch because Burl likes to look at his reflection. He thinks it’s the funniest thing he’s ever seen.

The smallest bears vie for seats in the wicker sleigh. Last year, Elliot decided to hog the leopard chaise by reclining like a glamour queen atop its black velvet cushion. That won’t hold this year; as soon as the gang saw their tree on Sunday night, there was a stampede to see who reached the settee first. Now we have a schedule to give everyone a turn.

The big bears don’t care so much, being too large to fit comfortably (or at all) either in the sleigh or on the settee; and though Moon Pie sits in during the day, he sleeps with Bobo and Jarkko in my TV watching chair at night. Once the big tree goes up and Grizz comes out of hibernation for the holidays, Moonie might stick with him in the living room. They’re buddies from the puffball’s first Christmas with us, and the annual reunion is a joy to behold.

We let the gang sleep around the tree (lights out, both literally and figuratively) on the first night, but they won’t get to do it again until Christmas Eve. Honestly, you’ve got to have some rules.