Oh Christmas Tree...

When my father passed away and my mother put up her first Christmas tree in her new home, she wanted a tree with only white lights and red balls. It really freaked me out that she chose a magazine type of tree. I even sent her a bunch of our original family ornaments to put on, much to her dismay. We were raised with a tree with tons of stuff on it.

My husband, children and I have a tree like the ones I grew up with. It gets comments like, "Uh, do you put all this stuff on yourselves every year?"

First of all it is a fake tree. It's a pretty good one, with a few different types of branches and it's pre-lit with white lights, which we consider a good start. My husband adds tons of colored lights and my daughters love to help.

We then add some garland of lifesavers and candy canes, disco balls, red beads, gold beads, etc. There are tinsel garlands as well. I also have a good assortment of glass balls that are placed on the inside of the tree to reflect light and hide any thin areas. But, the most important part of our family tree is the process of pulling out the ornaments and putting them on the tree while listening to the Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis Christmas Albums . Each ornament has memories that are all a part of the tradition.

The best ones are the ones that are home made. The soldier made of a toilet paper roll and Raggedy Andy that my Dad made at an Indian Princess outing when I was a kid. The macrame angel I made for my grandmother when she was in the hospital her final Christmas.

Being raised in Ohio in the 70's, there were the ornaments we made in public school like the one made from tooth picks placed around a picture of taken from old x-mas cards. Or my mom's favorite, a hand sewn cardinal where I attached the wings where ears should probably be. As long as I can remember, I have always hung my Snoopy ornament in the front of the tree. My sister-in-law made us some great wooden star ornaments with grommets and glitter. And I have a glass star that makes me cry when I put it up each year and remember my dad.

Now that my kids are in nursery school, I have a bunch of new ornaments that may replace some of our older commercial ones to which we have little attachment. I like the candle ornament that my daughter made in school. At home we made ornaments from my girls to all of family and friends. See what She made for Daddy.

We were going to take the tree down yesterday, but our daughter wanted a few more days so it will come down this weekend. I love that my girls are into holidays and enjoy the traditions. I just don't think the girls would be attached to a tree with only white lights and red balls.

Happy New Year!