O Tannenbaum!

Christmas has officially started in my house with the decorating of our lovely Christmas tree!
It is such a treat to go for a little drive, and just pick a tree. Not a big bushy commercial tree, or one perfectly pruned, but a wonky tree with big gaps and crooked bits which, in its awkwardness, is more perfect than anything I could ever buy at a store. The air was crisp and cool at 20 below, the sun was shining, and while my toes went absolutely numb it is an experience I wouldn't miss. Now, I have the most lovely tree in my house I could ever ask for, and I feel I too could glow like it does with the happiness it brings me!
It took most of today to decorate it, because I'm rather persnickety about how the lights go on (they can't show), and in addition to a full roast beef dinner, I didn't get an ounce of writing done. BUT! I will read before, which is of equal value. How can I know what good writing is, if I never read it?
Finally, I can delve into my Christmas present from my parents: Diana Gabaldon's latest Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone. I find these novels immensely entertaining...she is a fabulous writer, wordy but never without a reason, and I get so gripped into the stories. I just finished Sherri Smith's A Virgin's Tale, and I'm in need of something more...well, something more. It was not a horrible novel, and really, as far as books go, I rarely put one down. I just found that all the Roman animal sacrifices got to me...Smith describes many of them, and in great detail. She is, after all, writing of the vestal virgins, keepers of Rome's "hearth" and health, and it is their job to collect the blood from festival sacrifices and offer it to appease the gods.
There's nothing that hits me like animal deaths or cruelty, though. I rarely cry in movies, but I sobbed in Marley and Me! I can read about a person being killed, see it happen on film (although I do not watch or read senseless violence, gore, horror, etc - there is too much real violence in the world, it doesn't need to be glorified or venerated into something it isn't) and it will affect me. But if I see an animal die, I'm a mess. Perhaps it is because animals are, to some extent, helpless. We lord over them, control them...I say this, and think of my own dog, who sleeps in a crate a night so she won't eat anything while we sleep! Although if given the choice, she actually prefers the safety of the crate.
Still...hypocritical?
Another week starts tomorrow, and I fear the escalating behaviours as Christmas vacation nears...
And, of course, the staff meeting. Ugh.