Amazing how putting up the Christmas tree can make you feel so much better. My whole day has been a lot more productive than yesterday. I did the work I couldn't bring myself to do yesterday, then I finished the tree. We have a big pre-lit tree and I LOVE it. Until today though it was up but not decorated. I put on the garland, first a big silver one then a smaller gold one with little stars. Then the ornaments. Since there are so many lights, I don't have to use many ornaments. I start with all the ones that have meaning - the ones the kids have made in school, ones made for me with the kid's initials, the angels in our birthstone colors, the fluffy cat that reminds me of my aunt, etc. Then I add the miscellaneous ones that are just my favorites for some reason - cute mostly. Then I add the some of the traditional colored round ones. Then I fill in the wholes with some ceramic like ones that are Christmas themed little statues, like a Santa, a toy train, a toy solider, a rocking horse, a fireplace, an angel. I put that angel one toward the top of the tree because they boys won't let me put my big lit angel on. They like the star better. The star is up there but not lit yet. Need to find an extension cord. Whoever invented prelit trees should have made it so that the tree topper can plug into the tree. Maybe they do but I have never seen where. Of course Ken always puts the tree together for me (this year was no different) so maybe he never saw it. Oh and the final touches, just a few icicles. Dallas had asked me not to use those this year because they are annoying when they fall off and stick to your feet. Silly boy.
Anyway, decorating the tree has always been my most treasured Christmas memory. I loved decorating the tree with my mom. She always did the lights and garland and I did the ornaments. She would tell me where holes needed to be filled in and such. I remember Brendon's 2nd Christmas, Dallas' first, I wrote her a poemy letter about those memories. Typed it up, framed it, and gave it to her for Christmas that year. She displayed it for a couple Christmases but I think it's in a drawer somewhere now. I feel kinda guilty I didn't wait for the boys to come home to help with the ornaments. They always give up helping every year anyway because my OCD would kick in and I would micromange every placement. Not too many of the same color in the same place, none too close to one another, etc.
Last year I started laying claim to some of my mom's holiday decorations. I wasn't trying to dampen the mood or anything but I just wanted her to know which ones meant a lot to me and that I would like to have them...someday...ummm...when she was gone. She understood my intention and even went ahead and gave me the nativity scene I had mentioned. She hadn't put it out for years so she wanted me to go ahead and have it. It's on my tv right now. It's big - one of the 3 wisemen is as big as my foot (yes, I measured) - and even though I have small feet, that is still pretty big. It's from Home Interiors and the only thing missing is the stable/manger but I still love it.
Manger - "Away in the manger no crib for a bed. The little lord Jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the sky look down where he lay. The little lord Jesus asleep on the hay". Another Christmas memory. My mom and my grandmother (I think my aunt as well) had the same Christmas carol book with the sheet music and illustrations. I don't know how to read music but I did know one set of keys from low C to high C or something like that. My grandmother wrote in the letters of the keys for me on "Away in the Manger" and when we'd go to her house (in Missouri) for Christmas, I would play it on the piano and sing along. Not in front of the whole family or anything on the night we opened gifts, just throughout the visit as my grandmother would either be busy in the adjoining kitchen or sitting in her green rocking chair right behind me. So, I told my momther that that music book of Christmas carols is another thing I'd like to have someday. I really wish I knew what happened to my grandmother's with those notes written in for me but I remember it like yesterday none the less.
So, the Christmas spirit has gotten hold of me today. The next feat is to make sure there are presents under that tree in 22 days. Better start on my letter to Santa.
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