Another helpless vacuum cleaner falls victim to pine needles

My daughter calls me up the other day and tells me that she took down her Christmas tree.

It was a live tree. You know one of those wonderful precut live trees that we all think we need to have.

Baby Jesus didn't have one, I don't know why we have to have one.

Come to find out, she blew the motor on her new vacuum cleaner vacuuming up the pine needles off her carpet.

Had to buy a new vacuum.

The next day my sister in law calls screaming about the same thing.

I finally got the nerve to take mine down and it took an hour out of my busy schedule to get the needles out of the rug and then out of my socks.

The whole thing gave me a major flashback.

The year was 1970, I was 5 years old.  I think this is my first memory of Christmas.  I have no idea what in the hell I got for gifts, but I remember my Dad dragging the tree out the door.  I remember the sound of the vacuum cleaner and then alot of hollering.  I remember my Dad making a "pine needle vacuum getter outter" from a wire coat hanger.  I remember my mom cramming it in the hose of the vacuum about a hundred times until all the needles were off the floor.

I also remember my Dad waking up from his nap and stepping on the one last remaining pine needle and running it in his big toe.

When I moved out on my own, I got a real tree, a vacuum cleaner and bought some wire coat hangers.

Maybe these were the real gifts that the wise men offered baby Jesus?

Talk later,

Annie