"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas..."

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style; in the air there’s a feeling of Christmas…”                (Silver Bells written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, 1950)  

For each of us there is likely some significant moment or special object that signals the beginning of the Christmas season.  For me, pulling out my musical angel says “Christmas.”  I can clearly remember getting a package in the mail early in December the first Christmas that I was in college.  I rushed to the pay phone to call home to ask if I could open it right away (yes, the musical angel and I both go back to the age of pay phones.)  Since that moment, when she comes out of her box and plays “Silent Night”, Christmas has officially arrived. 

My angle says "Christmas is here" to me

Small town Christmas - Elm Street in Washington, MO

 

Washington's municipal Christmas tree at Elm and Main Streets

To help herald in the holiday, Mike starts with the outside decorations, usually right after Thanksgiving.  He takes great pride in creating a slightly different look every year.  Some years, all white twinkle lights; other years, a profusion of color.  Blow-up “Frosty” has presided over our lawn at times, and at other times, serene grapevine deer have grazed peacefully in the yard.  One year, the lights “danced” and blinked to the rhythm of Christmas carols.  This year, “icicles” drip off the edge of the roof while lighted candy canes hang in the branches of the trees in our side yard.

Our house, decorated for Christmas

As a kid, Christmas trees came in a variety of styles and options.  Sometimes we would cut down a cedar tree at the farm, or buy a tree from the local Boy Scout lot.  Some years our tree would be a “stylized” version that my mom created.  One year our “tree” was a wood frame covered by chicken wire, to which my mom attached all my dolls and stuffed animals.  Now my folks’ tree is a cute, petite metal tree to which my mom attaches all of her 1950s-vintage “Dancing Santa” figurines.


One of mom's "Dancing Santas" from the late 1940's or early 1950's



The "Dancing Santas" adorn a small tree in my parents' house

Mike and I have typically gone to a local tree farm to cut a fresh tree.  As the grandkids arrived, it turned into a Saturday-after-Thanksgiving tradition to go to the tree farm.  Agreeing on the perfect tree is a monumental decision.  Our favorites became the white pines, for their soft texture.  Over the years we’ve added artificial trees as the Christmas ornaments proliferated.  On more than one year, we’ve had four or five trees decorated.

Success!  In this picture, Allison is about 3 or 4, the same age that Abby is now

Pulling out the ornaments is a daunting and time-consuming task.  I keep everything because of the memories attached, so there is a lot of “Christmas” – and everything else – in our house.  The family room tree, typically the freshly-cut white pine, is decorated with family ornaments – ornaments from childhood, gifts from friends, and fun finds over the years.  My very favorites, however, are the hand-knit dolls that mom made me for me over the years.  I love these hand-made little people that adorn the tree each year, and have for decades.

Family room tree, 2013

 

Our daughter-in-law, Becky, made this cross-stitched ornament for us in 2005

 

The doll ornaments that my mom made are some of my very favorites

Close-up of one of my "little people" that my mom made for me

As our need for additional trees grew Mike convinced me to add pre-lit artificial trees in other rooms of the house.  I don’t remember for sure, but it could have been after I destroyed a section of the hardwood floor in the dining room (seems I had been watering the floor as well as the tree that was in there) or if it was a decision made after putting lights on the live trees.  I’m convinced that Santa keeps the elves busy during the off-season by having them tangle strands of Christmas lights.  I don’t know about your family dynamics, but two to three hours un-tangling lights sure stretches the “good will among men” (and women!)  So, artificial trees were added to the décor. 

The dining room tree became the one that changed with our interests.  Some years, Thomas Picone hand-blown glass ornaments adorned that tree.  They were fun to put up, but a pain to take down.  Not only are they extremely fragile, but they came packed in boxes, each ornament nestled in a cut-out space perfectly shaped for that piece.  Packing them away after Christmas was akin to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.   During another period of our lives, the dining room tree was decorated in a “lake” related theme, with glass fish, ring buoys, lighthouses, and snorkeling Santas. 

Thomas Picone ornaments, all hand-blown glass, all "snug in their beds"

A “tiny tree” holds miniature ornaments and from year to year, moves from room to room, though most often it ends up sitting on the dining room table.

The "tiny tree" includes Winnie the Pooh and many of the Wizard of Oz characters
In all, almost 100 tiny ornaments, about 1" tall, hang on this tree

The living room tree is a white artificial tree that holds the newest of my collection, the White House Historical Society Christmas ornaments that Mike started giving me.  It also features the “pear” ornaments that mom started giving me.  (The Northwestern U.S. Pear Growers’ Association started selling limited-edition ornaments many years ago, all with the theme of “a partridge in a pear tree” but all slightly different each year, and dated with the year of issue.)  The twinkle of gold is intensified by the brass “scene” ornaments that we’ve gathered over the years from our travels.  The tree is finished with delicate-as-a-soap-bubble clear glistening hand-blown glass ornaments.

Living room tree

 

The White House Historical Society's 2008 ornament depicts the first Christmas tree
set up in the White House, in 1889, during the administration of Benjamin Harrison

 

The 2012 Partridge in a Pear Tree ornament is die cast and covered in antique
silver.  It features a pair of partridges and beautiful, decorative pear tree leaves
accented in 24-carat gold. 

The most impressive tree of all, however, is the one that God is decorating with snow outside our window right now, as I sit and write this blog.

 

Crabapple tree covered in snow, December 2013

Christmas traditions…special moments from childhood…even things like a family outing to the Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving with the kids - and now the grandkids - can create wonderful memories and great Road Stories.



(L to R)  Becky holding Abby, Matt, Yvonne holding Allison, Mike.  Thanksgiving 2011