Love and Terror

I picked the name Magellan for my hedgie baby in the hopes that it would inspire him to be fearless. So far, this hope has not come to fruition. He balls up and hisses at sudden movements, loud sounds, and probably the mere thought of my hand descending into his cage. He is just a baby and I am big and scary and new, after all. I'm trying to tell myself that this is way more fun than having a puppy or a kitten because it is much more of a challenge. I have to work for his affection, instead of just being showered with it for free. Unfortunately my brain always pipes up at this point saying that the point of getting a pet is to be showered by its immediate, unconditional love. Oh well.

In other news, the tree is up. We bought it at Lowe's, which broke my heart just slightly less than getting a fake one would have. I love Christmas traditions, specifically trudging through a snow-filled Christmas tree lot in search of the year's holy grail tree. Then the dragging it home, wedging it through the door and getting tangled in lights that inevitably don't work. Of course, driving to Lowe's and throwing a pre-cut, netted tree into the back of the truck saved a lot of time and stress...but it didn't entirely feel like Christmas. After we got it up I was pretty sure we had accidentally picked from the 'special' tree section. The poor thing looked as though alternating chunks of branches had been stunted in their growth; giving the overall effect of a crooked tree despite the perfectly straight spine. So of course I felt like Lowe's was the demon of Christmas and yearned even more for the tree lots of yore. But when I crawled out of bed this morning the dear tree had unfurled itself in the night and has taken on a new, wonderfully Christmasy cone shape. It also smells delicious. I love real trees!

In a couple hours I'm going to head over to Jonathan's parents' house and pick up some decorations. I don't know how I feel about decorating really. I'm sort of against owning a bunch of crap. However, even though I am wearing green today I am not the Grinch and I suppose I should at least make the house look cheerful. I'll try not to go overboard.