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I sit here this drizzly morning, coffee at my side, admiring the little pencil tree that adorns the corner of my dining room. It's all aglow for the occasion with its twinkling lights winking at me as I write.
I've always loved putting up and decorating the trees that have graced our homes. In the wee morning hours this time of year, I love nothing more than curling up on the corner of the sofa with a steaming cup of something, and allowing myself to be mesmerized by its glow. There's something almost magical... peaceful, sitting there that way, allowing thoughts to wander back in time.
When I was a kid we'd drive out in the country and stop by the road somewhere where there was a "Christmas-y" shaped small cedar that my dad could take a hacksaw to and cart home. I suppose that was legal?! Anyway, that practice stopped long ago with the advent of cedar fever. I still love the smell though. We would decorate that tiny conifer with the giant colored bulbs, you know -the ones with the reflective foil backers to amplify the light. Then we'd layer on so much tinsel and angel hair, it would end up looking like a giant silver ice cream cone! Good times!!
When my folks moved to the Abiso house they bought a fake tree (ahem, excuse me... I mean an artificial tree). In the early days of plastic trees I'd have to admit, they lacked somewhat in looking... well, real. We had a six footer that was basically a large central pole with little holes drilled all around. The holes were color coded with the wire tips of the branches, and you would go about stuffing those branches into the coordinating holes from the bottom up. I did not shed a tear when that one went!
Years later, when our family moved to the Abiso house, I decided we would kick it back to a real tree again... the bigger the better, since the nine-and-a-half foot ceilings could accommodate such glory! As I recall, we only had a real tree that first year... pesky allergies, but it was magnificent while it lasted.
Through the years we have amassed a number of ornaments that have become quite special to us. There's the "Lucy" ornament from Peanuts, playing a trumpet, that one of my college friends gave me. Our daughter, Elizabeth ALWAYS puts that one on. If you know Elizabeth, you'd know why she gravitates to "Lucy" ;) Then there's the Lenox china nativity (Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus) that one of my dearest friend's mother gave me. She is now celebrating in heaven. I have the wooden tree that Elizabeth brought back from her college choir's trip to Germany, and a little wooden penguin that Sarah brought back from her mission trip to Alaska.
Each decoration holds a memory of some time or some person associated with that particular ornament, whether bought by us or gifted. The most special ornaments, and the ones I treasure most, are the photo ornaments of our little family as they grew. My mom always gave us those. She had the first ones made (Tom and me on Nana's back porch the year we got engaged... and the next, the year we got married). After that she started making her own, attaching her favorite pics of the kids to the front of an old Christmas card or a plastic lid. Each year when I pull those out, they touch my heart and make me smile. Our children, now grown, have started the tradition back up, and we have some precious images of our grandsons adorning the branches of the little tree as well.
It's been a lovely morning sitting here, skipping down memory lane, but my coffee is almost down to the last drop now, and the soggy morning has given way to sunshine. My twinkling tree is still winking at me. I think it approves of this post. I have to laugh just a bit. Last weekend when the entire family was here at the casita celebrating Thanksgiving, the kids decorated the tree... big kids supervising, and the grandkids placing the treasures as far up the tree as their little arms could reach. I think back to the words of Linus in "A Charlie Brown Christmas,"... "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."
Well, we loved on our little tree and it has surely also given love back to me. I adore all the ornaments clustered tightly around the three foot mark. Sooo sweet! I love the the handmade fabric garland and ... twinkly lights. I love the heirloom straw angel that our youngest grandson Wade got to put on top this year. Our tree won't grace the picture perfect squares of anybody's Instagram account, but I think it's the most beautiful tree in the world. Most of all, I love the memories that surround the tradition of putting up and decorating the tree, and all the dear people, past and present, who have made those memories so incredibly special.
God's richest blessings to you this wonderful Advent season. May you have joy abundant with plenty of special memories made... and may your tree give YOU love back too!
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