Christmas Tree Time

Last night Emery and I decorated the Christmas tree together. It seemed a bit strange because I think the last time we decorated a tree together it was about 30 years ago. Once the children arrived, it became something the children and I did together, Emery did the hard part of getting the tree in the house and lugging in all the boxes of decorations from storage. Once the children were all married, Melanie came to help, but this year she has a nasty cold. It felt a bit like Emery and I are back to the beginning, doing things sans children.

I love our tree, so full of sentiment, so full of precious memories. The girls first Christmas ornaments, ornaments my mother and I shopped together for on a rather random trip to a store in Harvard Square one year. Ornaments my Aunt Jeanne has made for me, and a very special ornament that was mine as a small child, a round container from Germany that held an orange each year for all the years I lived with my parents. Hard to imagine its over 50 years old now.

Candles stand tall on the branches, candle holders just like my mother always had on her tree. I light one for a minute each year, embracing an old tradition of candles on the Christmas tree.

The skirt around the tree is dear to me, made by a little girl of 10. Melanie's first Christmas sewing project. Gnomes hang from so many branches, gifts from those who know I have loved gnomes for most of my life. There are very few breakables on our tree, its a child friendly tree where ornaments can be touched with care, admired for how they connect the generations. Our tree will never make the cover of a fancy magazine, or resemble those well decorated trees in store displays, but it is a tree well loved and connected to our family.