The Tree (finally)

The tree is unveiled! Hubby and I went to a follow-up visit with his cancer treatment doctor, and afterward he agreed to get a tree. I like a tree that consumes the room, but he is a bit more sedate (and somewhat Grinchy!). So, a much smaller tree than usual, but I  also realized I have less ornaments than before. My two oldest have married and moved out, taking their years of childhood decorations with them. It turned out that I was able to put all my favorite ones on this smaller tree and I didn't feel too cheated.

All the years that the boys were growing up, I cut the tree with a hacksaw and hauled it home, got it stood up in the stand, and dragged it inside. Then I put on the lights and beads. Only then did the little guys leaping about my heels get into the act of crusting the tree with just as many ornaments as the groaning tree could accommodate. With my youngest, William Colton, that sometimes meant 4 or 5 per branch and I had to go back through afterward and spread them out a bit! This year we bought one that is a variety my hubby is less allergic to; the now-grown boys situated it in the stand, and one dragged it in for me. Oh, how times change.

But the ornaments never fail to delight me. Every year I will take one out and sigh with happiness, then hook it to the tree. Such sweet memories. And four generation of memories. These were on my Grandma Tommy's tree, my pop grew up putting them on the tree. Then they became our ornaments and I grew up enjoying them on our tree. When I was newly married, my folks gave them to me, so that my boys could grow up hanging them for the holidays. Someday, my grandbabies will have memories of them, and I will do what my grandma did for me- they will pick a favorite each year.

When I was two, I was fascinated by Grandma Tommy's tree. It's nearly impossible for a child not to be attracted to these ornaments; they are small animals, gnomes, and grinning Santas. For the first year I was allowed to pick an ornament, I chose the strange little white elf in the above picture. The one with the yellow hat and yellow and pink striped body. My pop was nonplussed. There were so many amazing ones that he was sure I would prefer a different one. Moma says he held up half a dozen to me and I would admire them, but never let my grip go of the "baby". To this day he shakes his head at that odd little doll, but it has always been a favorite of mine.

I love how there is no rhyme-nor-reason to the animals that were chosen as Christmas ornaments. The one with huge eyes and big grin at the bottom of the picture is a ladybug. There are squirrels in stocking caps, and somewhere even a green flocked seal with a pink ball on it's nose!

The small fabric sack with the Santa on it was my Grandpa Bill's when he was a boy. His daddy, my great-grandpa, worked construction and went all over the country. He brought this bag back filled with candy. The other side shows that it came from Santa Claus, Indiana, in the 1930's. 

I know lots of people decorate their tree with themes. Perhaps one year they buy balls of all blue and silver, while the next year it is peacock feathers and gold. I can admire those unique trees and see how they delight their owners. But I could never imagine having a tree with ornaments newly bought each year. I would not trade my old, worn, kitchy decorations for any faddish trend. To see the same things, year after year, and to hear the exclamations as a certain one is taken from the box...well, to me, that is the very start of the feelings of Christmas.