Of Trees, Decorations, Sentiment, and History
Today I am grateful for the beauty of the early morning sky.
I am also grateful for our collection of holiday decorations and the look and feel of our house when the Christmas tree and other decorations are up. We usually put up our tree on Thanksgiving weekend, but we'll be out of town this year, so we decorated yesterday. We actually have two new trees this year, both artificial, one small, one tall but skinnier than our previous tree. We enjoy the time together transforming the house, and it was fun this year to have a different configuration in our living room because of the new trees. We also decorate our fireplace mantle and add other decorations to our family room.
I dislike the commercialization of Christmas and the push that makes it all seem about buying the right gifts, with buying being the key word. But I love sitting in our house in the early mornings or in the evenings, when the tree lights are on, and just enjoying the atmosphere. There is something so soothing and inviting to me about the lights thrown off by our trees and various decorations. I think part of it is that as the days get shorter and shorter for these next few weeks, the lights are more prominent and more welcome. To me, this is what the holidays are really about-enjoying home and family.
Sentiment and history also come in each year as we unpack the totes with our decorations in. We can recall exactly where some things came from and when. We keep ornaments from when the kids were little. We bring out a tall, wooden tree that now traditionally goes in Sam's room. But that tree is "our first tree" in ways. I got it in Sioux Falls fifteen years ago, on our of my first "dates" with Darcy when we did some shopping together. We were married the next summer and the tree comes out every year to remind us of our good years together and our growing history as well.
The smaller tree we got new this year is a white one and it's decorated with blue lights and bulbs. Darcy was inspired by the memory of his grandma's tree from the early 1970's. As far as I'm concerned, that's the stuff that matters around the holidays far more than Black Friday shopping frenzy.
I am also grateful for our collection of holiday decorations and the look and feel of our house when the Christmas tree and other decorations are up. We usually put up our tree on Thanksgiving weekend, but we'll be out of town this year, so we decorated yesterday. We actually have two new trees this year, both artificial, one small, one tall but skinnier than our previous tree. We enjoy the time together transforming the house, and it was fun this year to have a different configuration in our living room because of the new trees. We also decorate our fireplace mantle and add other decorations to our family room.
I dislike the commercialization of Christmas and the push that makes it all seem about buying the right gifts, with buying being the key word. But I love sitting in our house in the early mornings or in the evenings, when the tree lights are on, and just enjoying the atmosphere. There is something so soothing and inviting to me about the lights thrown off by our trees and various decorations. I think part of it is that as the days get shorter and shorter for these next few weeks, the lights are more prominent and more welcome. To me, this is what the holidays are really about-enjoying home and family.
Sentiment and history also come in each year as we unpack the totes with our decorations in. We can recall exactly where some things came from and when. We keep ornaments from when the kids were little. We bring out a tall, wooden tree that now traditionally goes in Sam's room. But that tree is "our first tree" in ways. I got it in Sioux Falls fifteen years ago, on our of my first "dates" with Darcy when we did some shopping together. We were married the next summer and the tree comes out every year to remind us of our good years together and our growing history as well.
The smaller tree we got new this year is a white one and it's decorated with blue lights and bulbs. Darcy was inspired by the memory of his grandma's tree from the early 1970's. As far as I'm concerned, that's the stuff that matters around the holidays far more than Black Friday shopping frenzy.
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