on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Christmas erupted in my house today

     I lugged up several boxes of decorations.  The timers on the porch lights are adjusted, set, reset and still going on and off at strange times.
     Jackie has gone through several tubs and weeded out some of our no longer wanted decorations.  I squirrel them away for the garage sale I am having next year, the one I have been having every year in my mind, just not in the garage.
     When I was  a little kid, my parents had a small cedar log cabin that burned Maine pine incense.  I remember Mom making the annual trip to the Woolworth's downtown on State Street to buy the cones the little incense holder in the cabin held.  You put the cone in the holder, light it, put it in the cabin and put the roof on.  Sometimes you have to light it twice.
     I would stare at it, the smoke gently floating up through the chimney.  I pictured it as a real cabin in the north woods during a winter storm, with me safe and warm inside by the fire.
     I'm on my third cabin as an adult.  The kids got me one years ago.  It was fine until I accidentally stepped on it.  It was like the Jolly Green Giant (everybody: Ho! Ho! Ho!) running amok through Tiny Town.  I tried gluing it, but that did not hold.  Wood glue does not always work on log cabins.
     As I prepped the cabin this year, I opened an end table  drawer to pull out a box of cones.  There are about 70 cones in the box.  I looked again, pulled out another box.  Then another.  Then another.
It appears, I have a life time supply of cones....7 boxes plus a small bag.

     That wasn't all!  Jackie has some smokers.  These are German wooden figures that hold an incense cone.  You pull the top off, light the cone, put the top back on and the figure smokes.  Of course, they are not the same size as the cabin!

      Every year at the German market in Chicago I buy a pack or two to be sure we have enough.  I think we have 15 packs!!  (I plan on going to the market Dec. 4.  That's a Thursday.  Anyone?  Just call.)

     Holy crow, I must be trying to corner the market on all these stinkers.

     And to top it off, I think Julia is allergic and we can't burn them when she is home, or she sniffles, snorts, drips, coughs and has very teary eyes.  Or it's Emily, and she flees as soon as the smoker gets fired up.  Or it's me.  I seem to not be able to see through the haze.

      So I am going through the cones now.  I have burned three of them today.  Each time I light one, I put the roof on the house and stand back, close my eyes, and I can almost feel my mother's hand as she leads me into the Woolworth's downtown.

     Sometimes it just feels good to go back in time.