“Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.”
Today is cold but lovely. The sky is a deep blue, and the sun is shining.
Right in the middle of getting my toast and second cup of coffee, I noticed the mouse in the trap. It was a very nervous wee grey mouse. I dropped everything and took it for a ride. Later I’ll reset the trap with peanut butter.
It is a stay at home Saturday. Yesterday I did all my errands including sending my Christmas cards so today is catalog the presents day and start wrapping Colorado so I can get those presents to UPS. Tomorrow is begin decorating the house day and finish Colorado. My to do list is shrinking day by day.
One year we got a telegram from Santa. It was delivered by itself, not with any other mail. Santa told us he was watching to make sure we were nice, not naughty. That got our attention. One year I sent a report card to my sister to use with Ryan, my nephew. It was to be left for Santa on Christmas Eve. On the report card were good behaviors and underneath each behavior was a square. My sister put a gold star for good behavior or a black star for bad in each square. When she had to add a black one, my nephew cried and begged her not to and promised he’d be good. My sister loved that report card, my nephew not so much.
I always think the tree is the most personal part of Christmas. My tree ornaments tell stories. Some tell of Christmases long ago. I can close my eyes and see the tree in the corner of the living room at 16 Washington Ave. I can see us gathered around while we decorated. The ornaments were in boxes on the couch, and we got to pick the ones we wanted to hang. I don’t remember if the tree was full or scanty or short or tall. I always thought it was beautiful. When I was older, the tree was in the corner of a different house. The ornaments were the same. They were tradition, the continuity from Christmas to Christmas. My tree always has some of those ornaments as do the trees of my sisters. On my tree are ornaments my mother made for me. They tell of her love of Christmas, the love she passed on to my sisters and me.
I take time to decorate my tree. I think about the ornaments and the memories they bring. I love to sit quietly and look at the tree. It is always filled with love and memories.
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December 8, 2018 at 1:04 pm
Mrs MDH and my daughter are baking Christmas cookies. The Seekers are singing on the endless loop of Christmas songs. I have taken refuge in front of the TV watching the Premier League with my lot due up at 2:45
Tonight we will go in to Rochester to see the bright lights show. Our town is lit up and the restaurants are full.
Second weekend of Advent it is, and, of course, Kat we are coming up to Gaudete Sunday……
December 8, 2018 at 1:39 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I would never forget Gaudete Sunday. It is on my calendar.
It is a bit early for me to make my cookies. I’ll do that next week, but I do have to make a few things for my sister as I am seeing her on Gaudete to go to our play, another tradition.
I do wish I could just sit!
December 8, 2018 at 1:08 pm
Although I never had a Christmas tree I can imagine how many memories the ornaments would recall. One of my cousins was married to a Christian man and she would have a Christmas tree in her living room. Her favorite thing was Disney characters and her tree was adorned with nearly all Disney ornaments plus a couple of Chanukah menorah ornaments which seemed strange. When she and her husband retired they moved from Staten Island New York to Orlando Florida so that they could visit the Disney parks regularly. Unfortunately, she passed away from lung cancer shortly after moving to Orlando and we lost track of her husband. I only met him once and he seemed to be a very strange duck considering he married my cousin. 🙂
Is a Christmas tree considered official if it’s not natural? Do aluminum trees have the same holiday meaning as natural trees? Have you ever gone to a Christmas tree farm or out into the woods and cut down your own tree? Obviously, fake trees would be less susceptible to fires than natural trees. Every year several fires occur as a result of electrical lights shorting out and catching dry Christmas trees on fire. 🙁
Today is colder than it was yesterday but will remain above freezing with cloudy skies and a chance of more rain. Yesterday evening it poured steadily for several hours.
December 8, 2018 at 2:29 pm
Bob,
My tree has really old ornaments and will have a few new ones I bought this year. My sister collects Hallmark ornaments which move and flash lights. My other sister gets Star Trek ornaments from me every Christmas.
That’s too bad about your cousin. The same thing happened to a neighbor. She and her husband went to Florida, and she died a few months later.
I think anything can be a Christmas tree as long as it is lit and decorated. I saw one made from books in a library, and it was amazing. I haven’t ever cut down my own. My sister and her husband used to when the kids still lived at home. I always have a real tree as my main tree, but I have a really ugly fake scrub oak tree in the dining room. Dry trees need to come down.
It is still a cold but nice day.
December 8, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Warmish and a bit rainy here today and very cloudy too. I don’t remember much of the day because I fell asleep for a very long time 🙂 🙂
I have all the decorations upstairs in an old suitcase, one of the old hard ones. I don’t use them any more since I always have very small trees now days but they are there waiting for the day I bring home something bigger again 🙂
I do like the report card 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 8, 2018 at 5:30 pm
Christer,
It is colder now that the sun has gone down. I did not get anything done today. I was just too tired. I think tonight I’ll plan out my cookies and their ingredients so I can say I got something done.
My decorations are all in tubs in the cellar. Some are really far back so I’ll hunt them out.
Ryan hate the report card though Moe, my sister, loved it. She had quite a bit of influence over his behavior.
Have a good day!