It's that time of year, when we all take out, cut down, or buy our Christmas trees, decorate them, and post on Facebook for the world to see. Let me first say that I love the department store look - the white lights, burgundy ribbons, gold ornaments; all perfectly placed on a perfect tree that looks like it came out of a showroom. When I go over to a friends house and see a perfect tree like that I marvel at how together she is, how perfect it looks, and sometimes think "someday I will have a tree like that". You know those friends - their houses are perfectly staged with garland twinkling with little white lights, poinsettias on the stairs, every perfect icicle light outside hung at just the right angle. I love it. My love only goes so far; however, because I love my colored lights and handmade ornaments more.
Every year I untangle my 1,000 lights, assemble my tree and fight with both until I am staring at a blaze of glory - a tree that has more lights than actual branches, in all of the pretty colors. THAT is Christmas to me. As a child, a big part of the magic of Christmas was unwrapping each and every ornament from old, worn out tissue paper, admiring it and having it bring back memories before hanging it on the tree. That is what I want for my son. Not a memory of a perfect tree full of ornaments with no sentimental value other than how much they cost or how the colors are coordinated with the ribbon. Perhaps the most hideous example of how I decorate the tree is a particular stuffed duck ornament my husband bought the year my son was born. Yes, I said a stuffed duck. It is yellow and crazy looking, and when pressed it quacks out "Joy To The World". I kid you not. This thing looks so ridiculous, but it has become such a tradition in our house that even family members ask about it. It would not be Christmas without that duck on the tree.
You see, traditions are what matter at Christmas, not how well your home would fit into a magazine. Although next year I am going to get a second tree to decorate department store style. As I said, I do love the look of them, just not for the family tree.
This also brings me to my thoughts about the outside of the house. We haven't hung lights outside due to the fact that my husband works out of state and I am smart enough to know that getting on a ladder with lights is probably not in my best interest. This year, however, I was bound and determined, so I put out a plea to "borrow a husband" to hang lights. Luckily, a friend volunteered to do it and he is coming over this week. But what should I do - perfect white icicle lights or old fashioned colored bulb lights? I am going with the traditional ones, so I can see the blue, red, and green festive colors in all of their glory. I love the icicle lights, but it goes back to the same thing as the Christmas tree - when you are driving around looking at lights, can you imagine if every house had the same stinking clear lights? How boring would that be? There are enough perfect homes in my neighborhood with them, so I think I have the right to go the traditional route. That and I know of one particular 5 year old who doesn't notice the perfect icicle lights, but yells "slow down!!" when I drive by a house with the multicolored ones. And he is the reason I am putting them up. This way, he can have magical memories of a Christmas tree that is filled with construction paper ornaments, multicolored lights, and a house that is decorated not perfectly, but memorably.
It's that time of year, when we all take out, cut down, or buy our Christmas trees, decorate them, and post on Facebook for the world to see. Let me first say that I love the department store look - the white lights, burgundy ribbons, gold ornaments; all perfectly placed on a perfect tree that looks like it came out of a showroom. When I go over to a friends house and see a perfect tree like that I marvel at how together she is, how perfect it looks, and sometimes think "someday I will have a tree like that". You know those friends - their houses are perfectly staged with garland twinkling with little white lights, poinsettias on the stairs, every perfect icicle light outside hung at just the right angle. I love it. My love only goes so far; however, because I love my colored lights and handmade ornaments more.
Every year I untangle my 1,000 lights, assemble my tree and fight with both until I am staring at a blaze of glory - a tree that has more lights than actual branches, in all of the pretty colors. THAT is Christmas to me. As a child, a big part of the magic of Christmas was unwrapping each and every ornament from old, worn out tissue paper, admiring it and having it bring back memories before hanging it on the tree. That is what I want for my son. Not a memory of a perfect tree full of ornaments with no sentimental value other than how much they cost or how the colors are coordinated with the ribbon. Perhaps the most hideous example of how I decorate the tree is a particular stuffed duck ornament my husband bought the year my son was born. Yes, I said a stuffed duck. It is yellow and crazy looking, and when pressed it quacks out "Joy To The World". I kid you not. This thing looks so ridiculous, but it has become such a tradition in our house that even family members ask about it. It would not be Christmas without that duck on the tree.
You see, traditions are what matter at Christmas, not how well your home would fit into a magazine. Although next year I am going to get a second tree to decorate department store style. As I said, I do love the look of them, just not for the family tree.
This also brings me to my thoughts about the outside of the house. We haven't hung lights outside due to the fact that my husband works out of state and I am smart enough to know that getting on a ladder with lights is probably not in my best interest. This year, however, I was bound and determined, so I put out a plea to "borrow a husband" to hang lights. Luckily, a friend volunteered to do it and he is coming over this week. But what should I do - perfect white icicle lights or old fashioned colored bulb lights? I am going with the traditional ones, so I can see the blue, red, and green festive colors in all of their glory. I love the icicle lights, but it goes back to the same thing as the Christmas tree - when you are driving around looking at lights, can you imagine if every house had the same stinking clear lights? How boring would that be? There are enough perfect homes in my neighborhood with them, so I think I have the right to go the traditional route. That and I know of one particular 5 year old who doesn't notice the perfect icicle lights, but yells "slow down!!" when I drive by a house with the multicolored ones. And he is the reason I am putting them up. This way, he can have magical memories of a Christmas tree that is filled with construction paper ornaments, multicolored lights, and a house that is decorated not perfectly, but memorably.
I love this. Such wise words!
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