Where do they go?

Every year, I wonder the same thing.

As I unpacked the balls for the Christmas Tree, I immediately became aware that most of them do not seem to have hangers. At first, some years back, I took this oddity with only a mild bit of consternation, I knew damn well that I was careful that every single ball had its hanger when the box was put away. As the years have progressed, it seems to get worse and I'm starting to get a bit pissed off about it. Where do those damn hangers go? Do teeny little mischief making elves sneak in over the summer, open every box and carefully remove the hangers? What do they do with them? I also note that the bag that never got packed away properly, the one with the few spare bulbs and hangers that popped out of every corner imaginable from the only shelf in the closet to fall reproachfully in my face every damn time I open the built out closet door is now nowhere to be found. I begin to wonder if maybe I'm getting too old for this. Little persnickety elves. You gotta watch them, you know. Keep it up fellas. It's not my first time, I've been to the rodeo before. This means war.

I start to wonder what it must be like to decorate really big trees....

December 1913 - Christmas tree, Madison Square, NYC

Nurses at the  Garfield Hospital Christmas tree, Washington, D.C. circa 1921

The Kennedy White House, 1961