Oh, Christmas Tree!

When I was a child, our Christmas trees were always covered with multicolored lights and an eclectic assortment of ornaments. Ornaments had been acquired over many years. Some were hand crafted by us at home or at school. Some were gifts, some had been purchased. I always was fascinated by the variety and everyone who came to our home was drawn to the tree to see what each ornament was or represented. We never had a theme tree. The lights were the big ones, nice and bright. I still have some of those big old lights that I hang with a garland around my front door.

When I was eighteen I had a home of my own. I got my first tree. It was seven feet tall and beautiful. I went to the local import store and bought many different ornaments that struck my fancy. Many of those ornaments are on the tree that we just decorated for this Christmas. Nathanael made a new one in school. It is a snowflake. We decorate the tree as a family, often the day after Thanksgiving. We drink eggnog (those of us who can stand it without rum) and listen to Bing Crosby sing about a White Christmas.

Every year my sisters make an ornament for each of the children. They put their names and the year on them, and they are always special and beautiful. As each of my children have grown and made a home of their own, their ornaments have left with them. Dad and I think maybe we should start a new tradition of giving each other a new special ornament each year so our tree is not bare a few years from now.

I love Christmas. It means eveything good to me. Home, love and family too. I can hardly sleep on Christmas eve and love sharing it with my family. I think each of my chilren carries this on to their homes and loved ones at the holiday season. This makes me happy too!