O Christmas Tree

I’m pretty late this year, but…better late than never.

Last weekend, I finally finished setting up our Christmas tree for our home.

Usually, I am the grinch during the holidays—refusing to put up any significant amount of decorations. But this year, my three year old has begun singing holiday songs and is officially of the age where he understands it’s the holiday season.

I broke down and purchased a 6ft Christmas tree and lots of stringed lights.

One of the things that makes this tree so special, is that I literally was able to decorate it using the Christmas ornaments and decorations we used every year when I was a child.

These Christmas ornaments survived hurricane Katrina, which were stored in our attic in a plastic container.

Some ornaments gotten damp, with a only few ornaments containing stains from the hurricane.

Yet, luckily, most of these ornaments were preserved.

The special thing about the holidays is sharing memories—joyous favorited memories with people we adore.

One of my favorite memories during Christmas as a child, was seeing my mom rearrange the living room to fit the Christmas tree. We would play The Temptations Christmas Album on repeat as we helped her place the ornaments all throughout the tree.

I would love to wake up early in the morning, and lay on the couch, just to be near the beautifully lit Christmas tree, staring at the ornaments and playing with them when my mom wasn’t looking.

As I became an adult, with my own space, I did not enjoy all the work that comes with Christmas decorating, and the sorrowful anticipation of taking all of them down at the beginning of the new year.

However, this year I came through with the win, giving myself the wonderful gift of sharing this memory with my family.

We are now headed into Christmas.

December has flown by. This year has flown by.

But hopefully, this holiday season provides us a few spare moments to relax and enjoy a lovely time with the people we love, and with those who deeply love us as well.

I wish you and yours, a very, merry Christmas, a happy, happy holiday, and a prosperous new year.