Christmas Tree
or how do YOU decorate?
The other night I was standing in the middle of the road (cause that’s how we do around here) talking to some neighbors. We are a chatty gossipy group and eventually, our attention turned to the holidays. After the usually are you ready yet? what are you doing etc. I mentioned that I was going to have my granddaughter after Thanksgiving for a couple of days. I was going to have her help decorate the tree. I mentioned she likes to hear the stories behind each ornament and that I have a tree full of memories. One of the neighbors, I call her Sarah, said I used to have a tree full of memories but now I have a nice one.
A nice one? Yep, one that is themed with stuff she likes. Sarah said she had a giant tree full of ornaments that the kids had made, gifted her, or others had given her. Over the years she had the kids take one or two ornaments home to put on their own trees. Now she has a smaller themed tree. I was appalled. Why would one give away the memories? I adore going through all of them. I have ornaments from when my kids were in preschool all through their school years. Each one I remember how proud they were to give it to me on Christmas day. They had a present to give to Mom that they had made with their own hands. That construction paper star with the glitter mostly gone and a school picture in the middle is worth more to me than all the collectibles and jewels in the world.
The other gal there, we will call her Mary, has never had children so she had no idea what she was missing. she said she has several trees from tiny to huge and has a whole winter wonderland scene. That sounded nice. I have a ceramic village that I painted and built up over the years. I could see doing a tree scene. Yet I still would not trade my tree of memories. Yes, I know that the tree is not what Christmas is truly about. But really, maybe it is. Christmas is ultimately about family.
What about you? If you celebrate Christmas, what kind of trees do you like? Do you have the themed trees, the whatever is hot and trendy tree, the rustic tree, or a tree of memories? I know one person hires a decorator to do their trees so it is always color-themed for that year in the public area and each kid has their own tree in their rooms decorated their way. Do you have a tree of memories? Let me know!
