A Costa Rica Christmas

My mother was allergic to evergreen trees so our family had an aluminum tree which we assembled together removing the foil sticks from the box and sticking them into a silver pole. It was the highlight of my Christmas for when it looks like this out doors, putting together a fake tree is about all you can do. This is Chicago in the winter. Brr..... Okay, to be fair not all the time, but global warming has not yet made Illinois balmy in December.

Anyway, the aluminum tree came with a light that shone upon the tree and changed colors thanks to the color wheel. For hours I would sit and try to decide if I liked the green, or the yellow, or the red better. From the tree my love of gaudy began. However, now I buy a real evergreen tree, and do the normal thing, ornaments and tinsel. The majority of people in Phoenix where I live, even minus snow, stick to the concept of white, green, red, gold, silver when decorating. We color inside the lines.

Last week while I was in Cost Rica this greeted us at our hotel room. By the way, those blue lights flashed like a disco.  Spiffy, eh? And here is the Costa Rican idea of fireplace mantel. All that is missing is their Santa who wears a flowing, furry, and to the floor mind you, red cape with a gorgeous white curly beard. I saw him on Costa Rican television and he matched the flashy fireplace. He looked dashing, as if his Mrs. Claus looked more like Pamela Anderson. Sexy.

Here is a tree at the other hotel room where we stayed. Belive me I didn't intend to look like the tree but, oh well, might as well do as the natives do.

Purple and green. Gotta love it.  Friends have wanted me to send photos of my Costa Rica trip.  Sure I could show off photos of the sting rays I saw jumping from the ocean, or the crocodile on the shore, the rain forest or gorgeous mango trees.  But really how could I ignore this?

 They've got Frosty caged in a snow box. Yep. This is way better than any photo of a parrot. Finally, and I bet you're glad I said finally, here is the Costa Rican town of Liberia's tree. I betcha at night the tree has flashing lights, too. Who needs a star or a tinsel when you have frogs. I'm not quite sure what the tree was made of, but at least it didn't melt in the sun.

I think next year I'm gonna gaudy up my tree. Forget the cherished ornaments and gold garland and include some big splashy neon pink bows, and green frogs and maybe even a orange tree skirt. Why not! I grew up watching a color wheel spin on aluminium foil. Time to return to my flashy roots and Costa Rica has shown me the way.

 I can't resist one more. Yes those are red sticks on the tree, an attempt at duplicating strings of cranberries perhaps, with zillions of Santa heads. Packages are wrapped in bright blue. Costa Ricans sure know to color outside the lines! Merry Christmas. May your holidays shine bright in whatever colorful way you chose.