Oh, Christmas Tree!

THAT is a very large pile of tree ornaments!!

Ryan gives Quincy a boost.

What a pretty tree!

CHEESE!

Alex helps, too!

Kaitie and Amanda hang a few ornaments, too.

Kaitie hangs a few last ornaments.

When I was growing up, my parents bought a 4 foot tall artificial Christmas tree from Sears. Every single year, my dad set up the tree on a hexagonal end table. My mom would wrap the same white sheet around the table and the metal base of the tree. She would tell us that it was supposed to be snow.

My dad would wrap the strands of multi-colored lights around the tree first. Then, he'd carefully... (almost in a scientific manner) place the silver tinsel in perfect swoops from branch to branch. The last step to decorating our tree was hanging the white satiny balls on branches.

When my sister and I were five and seven, I remember my mom covered our dining room table with an old shower curtain. All four of us would gather around the table and pick out roughly sawn ornaments that had black lines pre-printed on them. We painted these ornaments and when they were dry, we added them to the tree. It seemed like a LOT of variety. The smell of those tiny pots of acrylic paints remind me of that Christmas to this day anytime I open a bottle of acrylic paint for a project.

I still have the little reindeer I painted. When I see it, I chuckle to myself. I know there were several other families who had sets of ornaments like those...well...at least they weren't EXACTLY like ours...My little sister and I were just sure our Christmas tree was the prettiest in the whole world. Santa would love to see it for sure.

Now that I am grown up, and have kids of my own, I still love to make my own Christmas tree ornaments. I look for ornament ideas anytime of the year. Unlike my dad, I just put the lights on the tree....and the tinsel is certainly NOT measured out! I start at the top and then wrap it back and forth and then if I run short, I go back and stretch it to fit. It's quite pretty just the same...at least I think so.

My goal was to have each ornament be different from all the others. Over the years, I've managed to collect a large pile of ornaments. Most of them are unique. There are a couple of duplicates. When it is time to trim the tree, I carefully peel back the layers of tissue paper to see which ornaments are inside. Each neatly wrapped packet is a surprise. Every ornament has a special and unique memory. I love recounting those memories.

I think about my kids and how they will someday have their own trees and traditions and favorite ornaments and decorations. I hope the memories they recall are happy ones.