At this time of year, our house, like many others, is filled with a variety of Christmas decorations, Nativity scenes, and, yes, Christmas trees. Trees of all sizes and shapes and materials from which they are made can be found in nearly every room of our house.
But the largest and most special tree is the one in front of the living room windows where we put it so all the neighbors can ooh and ahh over it as they drive by.
It's the one I have to drag from its storage place in MY SHOP into the house, unbox it, assemble and fluff it and make sure all the lights work. If, by the time all this is done, Mary and I haven't strangled each other, I disappear and stay gone until she has it festooned with the contents of two dozen boxes of ornaments she pulls from storage in the Christmas closet.
Mary takes her time to make sure each ornament is in exactly the place it should be. It has to be so because each ornament has special meaning and needs to be placed just right.
We didn't go to WalMart or even Robert Moore to buy boxes of ornaments, we have built this collection, piece by piece, over our 39-years of marriage.
There are ones from our first Christmas, a time when we hardly had money for a tree or decorations. Mary's grandmother had some fabric balls so she and Mary decorated them with foil stars and snow flakes along with beads held on with pins, creating our first ornaments. As we finished our tree decorating, we realized we didn't have a star for the top. I took gold foil wrapping paper, some cardboard and a coat hanger and made a star for our tree. It has topped every tree we've had since and will continue to do so until it disintegrates. The handmade ornaments from our first year are still there also.
That first year, we had a real, cut tree. We left it up too long after Christmas so it dried and started to shed its needles which promptly embedded into the carpet. Our vacuum could not get them out. The needles were quite prickly so if one dared walk barefooted over that part of the room, an exclamation of pain was quick to come! That continued as long as we lived in the apartment.
For the last few years, we've had store bought trees, completely pre-lit!! While these are nearly as nice as a "real" tree, it does serve to reduce my yuletide frustrations and keep me from using the portion of my vocabulary usually reserved for times of exasperation!
Along with our handmade first-year ornaments, there are ornaments that our children have made over the years, starting in daycare and continuing through kindergarten and on. It takes care to make sure they survive the packing and unpacking each year but they have special places on our tree.
Mary's birthday is only a week before Christmas so she has frequently gotten ornaments as gifts, especially on her 40th birthday. One of the first ornaments to go on our tree each year is a motorized mobile-type ornament with angels revolving. It always gets noticed on our tree.
There are ornaments that were hand-made by loved ones long since departed from this life, crocheted angels made by my mother and beaded bells by Aunt Grace. They bring special memories and an occasional tear.
There are ornaments acquired on vacations to special places or to commemorate special events.
So, yes, it is much more than a Christmas tree. And I guess the things hanging from the branches aren't ornaments but rather memories. Our tree is a living, growing recording of our family history. It is a memory-recalling, memory-making gathering spot during the holiday season.
At Christmas, Mary and I will be joined by Amy, Travis, Oliver, Jonathan, Kim and Maddie, around our tree. We'll tear wrapping paper from the gifts, we'll laugh and shout thank you's as each gift is unveiled and we'll make more memories. We'll probably also add an ornament or two to the collection and next year they will take their place of honor on the tree.
