Saturday, November 26, 2011

Oh Christmas Tree

It's tradition in our family to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving if at all possible.  Yesterday, we got it done.  The girls took great naps, which allowed me to get the tree up and put all my breakable ornaments on the top half.  I left the bottom bare so the girls could help me with the non-breakable ornaments after waking from their naps.  They were really excited when they saw the tree!

They dug in to the box of ornaments and random other decorations like it was a treasure chest.  Notice that old box.  It's probably at least as old as I am.  It's what we kept many of these same ornaments in when I was a kid.  I just kept them in the same box when I inherited them from my mom.

Miss found and loved these little elves.  There are two of them that sit back to back in a boot.  Again, these guys are almost as old (if not as old) as I am.  They were one of my favorites when I was little too.  One of them has a problems with his head falling off from time to time, but I love them and could never part with them.

These ornaments were made by my mom back in the 70s I think.  Styrofoam balls (and a few other shapes) with beads and sequins pinned into them.  Miss loved this bell, which she called a "Christmas tree."  It makes me happy that my girls are putting some of my childhood memories on our tree each year.

Lass mostly just dug through the box and checked everything out.

But Miss was very into helping me by handing me all the ornaments, telling me where to put them, and even putting a few on herself.




It was so fun to decorate our tree with my girls.  I love holiday traditions like these.  We listened to Johnny Mathis Christmas music.  The girls shook their booties to "Jingle Bell Rock" and bobbed and swayed beautifully to the less bop-worthy songs, like "Give Me Your Love For Christmas" and "White Christmas."  Our tree is full of the perfect balance of old and new.  The garland and many of the ornaments, as noted above, are the same ones that we put on our tree when I was a little girl.  We have some ornaments made by my great-grandmother.  Plenty of the ornaments are ones I have collected over the years, both vintage and new.  And of course, each of the girls has her own little collection of her own ornaments that will grow each year.

I love our tree.  Some might think it too cluttered.  Some might prefer a more coordinated look.  I think this tree is perfect.  It speaks of family and history and love and, of course, tradition.  To me, that seems the whole purpose of a Christmas tree.  Most of all, I love the process of putting it together as a family.

1 comment:

  1. Amy I think your tree speaks volumes! It's wonderous and filled with history. My tree feels the same way to me. When my sister and I moved out my mom gave us "our" ornaments. Each year we would get a special ornament from my grandmother and mom, so we had many to take with us for our own trees! I hope to do the same with my boys. I especially enjoyed seeing that your belly button has popped out! You look so beautiful pregnant! Happy holidays to you and yours!

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