8 Nights of an Intergalactic Holiday

It’s no secret that I’m a Star Wars fan. Who knows what started my life-long attraction: maybe the characters and story line appealed to my archetype loving little soul, maybe Princess Leia’s kick-a** and take names attitude spoke to my inner She-Ra, or maybe I just really thought Han was hot. (Actually I harbored a crush on Luke for much of my childhood, it wasn’t until I was a teen that I succumbed to the allure of a scoundrel with a budding conscience). Speaking of scoundrels…

Once upon a time I had a few Star Wars ornaments that happily shared space on our traditional family tree. A few years ago, the husband and I came to the realization that what had once been a few had somehow become “Holy crap we have a lot of Star Wars ornaments.” Seeing as we had already converted our dining room into my own personal cantina we refer to as the Star Wars Bar, it made sense to decorate this ode to my collection of all things from a galaxy far far away with a tree all its own. Thus, the saga of the Star Wars tree began.

Now, what does Hanukkah have to do with this? Not much, actually, beyond the awesome HANukkah bit pictured above…my mother is Jewish, and I was brought up celebrating both holidays – so I think I’m allowed to indulge here. However, the truth of the matter is I was planning to do a “12 Days of Star Wars” Christmas…but just didn’t manage to start posting in time…so here I am with Christmas a week away…and 8 days to post things (I’m counting Christmas day) and I thought hey, the HANukkah thing tied it all together quite nicely (even if Hanukkah doesn’t start for a few more days). Besides, it will be easier to come up with 8 posts vs. 12…and easier is good…especially at this schedule-crammed time of the year.

To strongly encourage myself to actually follow through and complete all 8 posts, I will outline them now so you know what to expect and can heckle me if I fall behind. (ETA: I didn’t finish all the posts I planned, so please – heckle away.)

Now do I count up? Or down? Let’s go with down, it seems to build more anticipation…and that goes for whether we’re counting down days to Christmas or seconds until the Death Star blows up a planet.

8 That’s today! I explain the conception of the Star Wars tree (no…the ghost of Anakin did not visit me in a dream) and share a few composite shots of the tree.

7 Monday 12/19: Heroes We celebrate the good guys (and girls).

6 Tuesday 12/20: Villains Even the evil dudes have a spot on my tree.

5 Wednesday 12/21: Sidekicks All the furry buddies and comic robots that make this series shine.

4 Thursday 12/22: Vehicles Too bad I don’t have a real Imperial Walker…it would come in handy during MidWest snowstorms.

3 Friday 12/23: Scenes Great movie moments immortalized.

2 Saturday 12/24: Cool Yule Accessories All the fun little extras that help complete the Star Wars Christmas tree and add holiday flair to my cantina. (Most were given to me as Christmas gifts in year’s past – it makes me easy to shop for!)

1 Sunday 12/25: Wish List What other ornaments, lights and chotchkies would make my Star Wars tree even more awesome next year?

Back to how this all started.

With the decision made I set out to find an appropriate tree for my endeavor. An entire Christmas tree devoted to Star Wars may seem like excess, but hey – I did try to keep things reasonable. I waited for an after-Christmas sale to score a cheapy tree even cheaper. I settled on a mid-size white pre-lit model. It is tacky? Perhaps, but the white clearly separates it from our formal and classy (if a fake tree could ever be referred to as classy) green tree; plus the ornaments pop better. In short – I think it looks really cool.