I usually leave it up until Epiphany, but this year it’s been looking more and more bedraggled as the twins slowly strip (and smash, if possible) all ornaments they can possibly reach.
Honestly, I just got tired of looking at it. Plus I was worried about how many more ornaments we could afford to lose….
I put the tree away during the twins’ nap, so they were extremely surprised when they woke up. They walked around in the empty space where the tree had been, going, “Christmas tree? Christmas tree?” as if they could call it like a dog.
I told them, “Christmas tree all gone,” which they repeated like a mantra for about a quarter of an hour, in slightly baffled voices. You could hear the subtext there: “Okay, what’s the deal here? This giant tree covered with pretty things has been sitting in our living room for a MONTH, and now it’s just GONE?! What’s up with THAT?”
(This is how the twins are, by the way. They talk to each other all day long, mostly by repeating the few words they know and adding gibberish to it. But you can get the gist of it; generally they’re commenting on something, or protesting something, in concert, like a Greek chorus, or a small mob.)
Finally their daddy took them to the closet and showed them where the artificial tree was stored, dismembered in its box. This did not reassure them.
Baby Boy said, distressed, “Christmas tree BROKEN!” and Baby Girl took up the cry as well. “Oh NO! Christmas tree BROKEN!”
My husband tried to console them. “No, it’s just night-night,” he said.
They exchanged looks. “Christmas tree night-night?” they ventured. They clearly appeared to be thinking, “Is Daddy snowing us, or what? I saw that thing, and it was BROKEN!”
He kept repeating that the tree was only night-night, but the twins were still pretty concerned.
It took them over an hour to get over it.
I guess they know the difference between something asleep, and something torn up and shoved into a box in the closet. They’re pretty smart, for a couple of two-year-olds.
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