Well it’s time to break out the box of Christmas ornaments and decorate the Christmas tree.
Many of you may have had your trees up for weeks and be wondering what took me so long. My two sisters had their homes decked out like Santa’s workshop the day after Thanksgiving, and their Christmas cards were in the mail by December 1.
My tree is not up and I’m skipping the Christmas card this year. At the age of 46, I’ve become a bit of a rebel.
Actually, since my oldest son’s birthday is in the middle of December we make a conscious effort not to decorate until after his birthday has come and gone. But, well, his birthday has come and gone so we have to get to it.
Each year we buy a real tree. Ideally all five of us go and pick the tree out, but lately it’s been my husband and one or two of the kids. For some reason the last few Christmases have seen at least one kid down with strep throat, bronchitis, pneumonia, or some other illness.
So far it just seems to be a cold that has all my babies sneezing and wheezing their way through copious amounts of tissues. I think we have a really good chance it will be all five of us making the holiday pilgrimage this year.
The one caveat we have in picking out our Christmas tree is that it must not be any taller than daddy. Joe is 6 feet, and this gives the kids a pretty good assortment to choose from and it gives me a great laugh each year as they go through the lot and try to measure it against their dad.
Once the tree is safely tied up to the roof of our minivan, it’s back home to the annual that’s-not-the-way-you-put-up-a-tree argument Joe and I have each year. We could skip this part of the tradition, but I’ve grown so fond of wanting to pull out every strand of my hair, I think I would really miss it.
When the tree is finally up and in its stand, we all kind of look at it waiting for some elf to put the lights on it. While I was growing up, this job always fell to my father who would use language I only heard once a year when he was working on the lights.
More times than not, it’s all five foot three of me who has the job of putting on the lights. I do this because I honestly feel if I left this to Joe, we would not have the tree decorated before Memorial Day.
This is when part two of the traditional argument occurs. I may add the my-sisters-already-have-their-trees-up-and-their-husbands-did-most-of-it encore argument, but that’s not mandatory for me to get the most out of the holiday.
By this time Joe and I are laughing so hard that although I’m very frustrated I secretly am glad I married someone who can make me laugh. Though, it would be nice if he would take just a little interest in the tree one year, but I dont’ want to get ahead of myself and ruin the fun of the annual argument.
Once the lights are on the tree, it’s time to hang the ornaments.
I love this part.
I know that in a perfect world I would have my children putting up the ornaments while I was stringing popcorn and singing Christmas carols, but I have to admit, I’m a bit territorial about the tree.
I’m not a person that is really big on possessions. I love having pretty things, but I’m not one to collect things anymore.
I was also raised by a mother that had some lovely things but never got upset if something ended up broken by one of my sisters or me. She may not have been thrilled, but she never made us feel bad. She would always say people are more important than things, and I grew up feeling the same way.
That is, unless it’s a Christmas ornament.
All of a sudden my nice-mommy persona goes out the window, and I become possessed.
I love my ornaments. They have been collected throughout the years and represent everything from the time I worked in an office, to when I got married, had each of my children, and watched them grow.
There are the crystal ornaments that my sister-in-law would send us each year before we had our children. The elegant, delicate, designer ornaments my co-workers would give me when I was working and even a few really pretty ones my mother and sisters have given me throughout the years.
There are delicate porcelain and glass ornaments that represent the births of my children and my children’s changing interests through the year.
The big glass school bus the year Tom was obsessed with counting buses, or the Paddignton Bear ornament that he still loves to see on the tree each year. The glass carousel giraffe my mother brought back for Lizzy from Nantucket the year she was planning my sister’s wedding. Or the teddy bear ornament my mom found for Peter to represent his dear stuffed bear Fuzzy.
Ballerinas, puppies, and trucks–I love to look at them all and remember the people who gave them to me and my children. Happily many people are still in our lives, but others are separated by time and circumstance, or are no longer here and only live on in our hearts.
There are ornaments that might not be glass, china, or silver but are priceless nonetheless. The rag doll bride and groom bunny my mother gave me the year I was getting married. The pearl bells my Aunt Margaret made as favors for my bridal shower. Or the ornament I bought when I was on my honeymoon.
My life tied on the branches of a Christmas tree.
Unlike my mom, who would think nothing of letting my sisters and I hang her beautiful hand-blown glass ornaments, I get twitchy just thinking of letting my children, who I love more than words can say, get their little hands on my precious collection.
I have enjoyed my solitary time tying my orments and thinking of the people and times they represent.
But, last year the kids really wanted to be involved. I was starting to feel like Scrooge keeping them from something they so clearly wanted to be a part of.
Surprisingly, I loved it. I would cringe every now and then, but in the end, my mother was right, they are just things. The experience and memory of my kids helping me were worth a few broken ornaments.
I stood alongside Tom as he helped Peter and Lizzy pick out decorations and place them on the branches. I loved hearing Lizzy giggle as she played with the ballerinas that Joe’s sister has given her. I was thrilled as Peter picked just the right spot for a train ornament I got the year I was pregnant with him.
Questions about who gave us what or where we were living when we received it turned out to be more valuable than any ornament with an exclusive name on it.
I hate it when my mother turns out to be right!
Postscript: The tree is up and it looks great! The yearly holiday argument did not disappoint, and thankfully we still laugh. The kids helped and did a great job and acted exactly the way I knew they would. Peter was very exact and put each ornament where it would look best. Lizzy played with the ballerinas and put on the small tiara ornament while Tom complimented everyone on a job well done. And, my husband put the lights on this year. (We do not have to get into the fact that he says he has done it each year we have been married. I have to leave something to write about next year!)
I wish everyone wonderful memories this year and a very happy, and healthy holiday season!
I have a feeling you and I would see eye to eye about the right way to decorate the tree..only I would be looking up to you from five foot nothing. I love how you put your life tied to the branches of the tree – it is exactly
Kathy, this post was so wonderful to read. I found myself smiling and smirking so many times. I can relate to feeling a bit possessive when it comes to decorating the tree. It has such significance to me.
I’m happy to read that your family enjoyed trimming the tree *and that your husband enjoyed stringing the lights 😉
Made me laugh!! Steve didn’t want me to try the lights myself (probably for fear I’d light the house on fire.) We ended up doing them together but I did a lot of the decorating. It’s funny…I’m still saving some ornaments to hang bc I just find it so relaxing and such therapy.
I loved reading about all the unique ornaments you’ve collected. The littlest of things usually carry the biggest sentiments. Xoxoxoxo
Wishing you and your family a beautiful week before Christmas!
Lots of love!
Maria
Bravo for letting the kids put the ornaments on! It’s tough and I’ve had more ornaments broken than I care to think about, but they just love to decorate the tree. This year, my daughter Drama and Little Man pretty much decorated the entire tree. I’m not entirely sure how they got the lights on and I’m not sure I want to know lol. I came along at the end and “touched up”.
Luckily my husband just stays out of the way once the tree is purchased and put in the stand. This year we went to a tree farm, rode a train, picked out the tree, watched them cut it down, and brought it home. I sure wish we’d done that before.
Merry Christmas my sweet friend!
I understand your ornament love! Too funny. Glad it all has worked out so well. I also hate it when my mother is right. Which is often. Ack!
I love your stories. My husband and I don’t have an annual light argument because I gave up a few years ago and just started doing it myself! He didn’t have the great light hanging finesse I have anyhow. 🙂
Though there was a development this year. We have an elderly fake tree and my girls mostly put it up by themselves.
I enjoyed your description of the memories that went with your ornaments. What a beautiful thing to pass those memories onto you children.
Hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season too!
Thank you all so much for your great comments!
It’s funny how something as simple as putting up a tree can cause such arguments in a household!! My mom had come over before and saw my tree. She commented on how beautiful it was and then started to complain how my father has turned her beautiful tree into a tacky tree! It was very funny, especially since I had just finished this piece!!
Thanks again for the visits and support! Much love to you all!!
It is amazing how much a decoration can add to our heart and our home. Such a great story! My husband puts on the lights, but nothing else. I think he thinks that’s his “man job.” and barely touches the ornaments. Maybe he is afraid of my wrath if he breaks one knowing how meaningful they are to me. 🙂
Great post! And thanks for your kind words as well!
Lynn
I’m glad I’m not the only mom who kinda cringes when the kids say they want to help decorate the tree!!! But, I too broke down and the kids enjoyed placing their ornaments JUST where they wanted them. Glad your mom was right!! It was fun to look back on some of them and what they meant. Merry Christmas to you all!
I can identify with you so much. We have traditional “discussions” about the tree that always end in laughter. I also have ornaments that are so precious to me and this year I totally turned the ornament hanging job over to my kids. I was just thankful that I didn’t hear any crash, followed by a child saying “oops.”
Having a good laugh at all the familiar idiosyncrasies of your holiday traditions–as well as my own. Thankfully traditions (whether perfect or not) are all that count and those are the things your kids will remember for ever—lovingly. Merry Christmas!
PS Just be grateful you don’t have a 2 year old to destroy your cherished ornaments. 😉
Having a good laugh at all the familiar idiosyncrasies of your holiday traditions–as well as my own. Thankfully traditions (whether perfect or not) are all that count and those are the things your kids will remember for ever—lovingly. Merry Christmas!
PS Just be grateful you don’t have a 2 year old to destroy your cherished ornaments. 😉
I’m a little (!) territorial about my (our) Christmas tree too, but had to let go of that this year – except for a few special ornaments (mostly given to me by past students), I had nothing (due to a very rushed move OS – lots of things had to be parted with). So this year, the tree is my daughter’s – she has made every single decoration that hangs on it (except for my special ones) – it may not be the most sophisticated looking tree (and has one side with no decorations, as she wants to be able to see them all from where she sits), but it’s ours and she definitely loves it!
Thanks for sharing such a humourous post:)
Kristina
I do the same with the tree except in reverse. My daughter’s birthday is New Years Day, so I make a conscious effort to take it down before the new year so that the two special celebrations aren’t overlapping! Happy Holidays to you…enjoy the decorating.
I am such a control freak when it comes to Christmas Tree decorations. So this year I decided to let the kids decorate it however they liked and they enjoyed it immensley. Then I just rearranged everything when they went to bed that night 😉
That’s such a touching post…tugged at my heartstrings…
It’s wonderful how those ornaments hold so much meaning. It’s simply magical. And to share it with the people dearest to you, that makes it all more worthwhile.
I wish you and the rest of your family a really happy Christmas! Oh, and I love your annual holiday debate with your hubby 🙂
You reminded me why each year I promise myself I am going to buy a pre-lit tree, and each year, I make hubby string the lights while I consume copious amounts of wine!
Umm I have never decorated a tree in my life.. that’s what moms are for 🙂 In reality, my mom’s a real crafty person so she doesn’t mind doing it. Hope you can show us your lovely tree.
I think I might consider a pre-lit Christmas tree next year because I can never figure out which light bulb went out. But our favorite part is decorating the tree with all the special ornaments since our little kiddo was a year old. So, this year she was big enough to hang her stocking and ornaments. Yeah, for helpers.
Happy Holidays,
Barbara
So glad you got your tree up and that you let your kids help with the ornaments. I know exactly how you feel cause our ornaments are basically the same…each one describing a member of our family or bringing back a memory of who gave the ornament to us. They are precious to me, but they are also precious to the kiddos. So even though I have some broken ornaments this year, the look of pure joy on the faces of my girls is priceless. 🙂
Merry Christmas sweet friend,
Rosann
You of all people anal about the ornaments? I LOVE IT! Hey everybody, Kathy has a weak spot!!!
LOL…I think this is one of the sweetest posts about tree decorating ever. Oh, and how to keep a marriage alive and well 🙂
You rock!
Sharon
I laughed as I read this post. My family has some of the same struggles with decorating the tree. I still have toddlers in the house so I didn’t use my breakable ornaments this year. Instead we bought a bunch from the dollar store so that all the children were able to assist. Although it was extremely hard for me not to rearrange where they put the ornaments. I am learning it is not necessary to have the perfect tree but rather the memories you create while putting it up. I do look forward to the coming years when I can bring out the ornaments I have collected over the years. Wishing you and your family the happiest of holidays!
I can totally picture your entire tree experience! I’m glad you finally let the kids get involved in the ornament hanging because now they can be involved in the traditions and you know me and how much I love my traditions 🙂 Oh and totally think we could go ornament shopping together, lol. Sending you LOTS OF LOVE this holiday season friend!!! xoxoxo
I hate to admit it, but I am a total Scrooge, just like my Dad always was, now that the kids are all grown, and I am in my 40’s. Things do change without the kids around, and my husband and I even high five each other in our treeless house, saying to each other, “Scrooge…Scrooge”. I know, we’re so bad!
From the time we were married, my husband took it upon himself to deal with the tree and ornaments. The only crisis that surrounds the tree is preserving the ornaments from 3 curious hands. I can identify with the ornament issue. I enjoy your writing and your blog!
Kathy, if it’s any consolation at all…my husband has NEVER put the tree lights (or anything but the outdoor lights up) EVER!
I hate to admit it but I feel the same way you did and am still trying to get over it…so…I bought them their own little tree. And I don’t help decorate it at all.
Does that count as not O.C.D.?
Hugs to you and yours ~ have an amazing holiday! xo
It is great to know that I am not the only one who cringes when my children touch my treasured ornaments that tell my past. I only have a few that, though not even glass, mean so much to me, but as I hand them to my children to put on the tree, my heart is pounding and I am an icicle until it is safely nestled in the branches.
This was actually the first year I let me son hang up my favorite bells (not breakable, but my most precious ornaments from my childhood). It was a big step for me to allow him to hang them, but I am not going to lie. I took them down after he went to bed and nestled them safely back in their box. Baby steps for me. Maybe next year they will stay on the tree for a week. 😉
But my grandmother’s fragile icicle ornaments…those may be a few years…
I am so glad I’m not the only one who gets a little uncomfortable when our our dear ones touch the ornaments!! Susan @Ava Grace’s Closet, great idea to let the kids have their own tree, love that idea!! I also think it is perfectly acceptable to let the little dears put an ornament on the tree and then either re-place it on the tree or take it off altogether, we are moms not saints!! Lots of love to everyone!! I love to read the great comments and know I’m not alone!! Wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season!!!
I think waiting to decorate the tree is such an awesome gesture to your son!
Great post.
Decorating the tree isn’t so bad over here. We always buy fake pre-lit trees so that helps with the stress.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Kathy! Thanks for the laughs and (tears) and for being an inspiration! I appreciate our blogging friendship and getting to know you and your family! Blessings in the new year!
Kathy, I feel the same way about Christmas ornaments. I have collected some from childhood. My aunt lived in Manhattan, which was big time stuff for those of us back on the farm in MI. She gave each of her nieces and nephews (and she had a lot!) a specialty ornament from somewhere in NY city every year, and I still have mine. Now, I give my kids an ornament every year, as do my parents and some other family members. Pretty soon, it’ll just be the kids’ ornaments on that tree, and I’m good with that. I did have a couple of heart attacks when A wanted to put my glass ornaments or the hand blown ornaments people had given him as a baby on the tree, but it was fun hearing him ask where they came from and who gave them to him. Even though we were late in getting our tree up this year, it was still a nice, albeit rushed, day of decorating. Merry Christmas to you and yours!!!!
I can’t wait to start decorating our own Christmas tree next year when we celebrate back home.
I’m not sure how I missed this. Of course it was funny and touching as per usual. I can still hear the cussing that went on between my parents when it was time to string the lights. I just assumed that it’s just how people put up light- while fighting! I have to say that it’s nice now to have a plastic, tabletop tree. No fuss, no muss. But in a way I do miss the yelling! It meant family!
Hi Kathy, I am all warm from laughing and smiling, you never fail to brighten my day when I read one of your blogs. My son asked me to stop at his house before Christmas while he was at work to get something, and while I was there I added a couple special ornaments to his first Christmas tree with his little family. I hung a porcelain ballerina slipper for my new granddaughter and a vacationing santa all in scuba gear in remembrance of their first vacation together in South Carolina this past summer. He was delighted to find them on the tree when he got home. I will be sure to add one every year as I do ours. Miss you and Happy New Year chickie. God Bless. Jodi