Our Tree

A rainy December weekend is the perfect chance to put up the Christmas tree! It’s quite the undertaking in our house. We take our tree very seriously.

We pulled down boxes of ornaments from shelves and got to work. It takes a while, because we don’t have any of those pre-packaged boxes of matched ornament sets. No, our ornaments have been collected over the past 17 years together, plus ornaments from my husband’s mom, as well as ornaments we had before we got married and joined decorating forces.

One example is an ornament I made in sewing class in high school. It’s a teddy bear wearing a Santa hat, and while I believe it is a fine piece of impeccable stitchery, my little brother joked long ago that it bears a stronger resemblance to a dog than a teddy bear. (My husband agrees). What do they expect from a bear who is at least 30 years old?

Each ornament is wrapped in bubble wrap or tissue paper in several boxes, and they are unwrapped one at a time and placed on the tree. It’s fun unwrapping them, not knowing which one it is at first. I hand him the ornaments from his mom so he can have the honor of deciding their places on our tree. I have ornaments from my mom that make me want to smile and cry at the same time. I trust that, over time, it will gradually be more smile than cry.

We have ornaments that each of the kids picked out way back when my husband and I first met. I still remember being at the store, watching the kids circle multiple Christmas trees and select their own ornament. They were so small back then.

When we travel, we have started picking up ornaments where we can, like one we got at the beach this past summer. It’s been waiting patiently on a shelf for its turn on the tree. We have personalized ornaments from the zoo, and we still laugh at our inside joke about me accidentally calling a hippo ornament a rhino (hey, in my defense, they were carved out of wood and a bit indistinct).

One year, I had the idea to buy a bunch of tiny red bows and attach them to the ends of the Christmas tree branches. My husband loved it and said the tree looks so beautiful with the red bows, so it’s become part of the decorating tradition. The original bows are slowly wearing out and falling apart, so I have bought more to replace them as the old ones are retired. It takes forever to place them on the tree, but he’s right: it’s so damn pretty when they are all on the tree.

When we finished our tree yesterday and turned on the lights, we just stood in front of it for a moment, admiring it. I’m glad we put it up early enough to have a few weeks to enjoy it. I am already looking forward to many evenings of snuggling in the living room with my husband, the only light in the room being the gentle glow from the tree…and debating where we can possibly fit another ornament!