Posts
When I was a kid, our family Christmases were HUGE. At the time, they didn't seem like anything unusual - 20-30 people at our place for the holidays was par for the course. My sister and her family would come over from Seattle and stay for a few days, and my three brothers and their families were all local so they'd drive out on Christmas day for dinner. It was chaotic, messy, and fun, but most of all it was our tradition.
There were a few years where the kids outnumbered the adults, so we did two Christmas trees - the pretty, sparkly, white-lighted formal one in the living room, and the kids' tree in the kitchen with the beaded fake candy garland, the felt and plastic toy ornaments, and gaudy multicolored lights. I loved the formal tree, "Mom's tree" as Dad would call it, with her angels and crystal icicles and collectible glass ornaments. She'd put velvet bows and gold garland on it, and it just shone and sparkled like one big neon "DO NOT TOUCH" sign. The kids' tree, however, was right in the middle of the traffic zone in the kitchen - there was nothing breakable or fragile about it. It was a rough-and-tumble tree, meant to be bumped and prodded and dug around under with abandon. It wasn't pretty, and it was awesome to us kids that we had our very own tree. But the sheer beauty of Mom's tree was captivating in a way that the kids' tree just couldn't hold a candle to.
So you'd think that, as an adult, my taste in Christmas decor would run along the lines of my Mom's - sparkly, pretty, a bit more formal. But when I look at my tree now I see that kids' tree. I have the original candy garland, the wooden beads, and a lot of the kids' ornaments that we hung on the old tree. B has contributed all of his ornaments that he made or had from his childhood. Almost all of the new decorations that we've acquired follow this theme too - Beaker from The Muppets (he meeps "Ode to Joy" when you hit a button!), a GI Joe action figure, Strawberry Shortcake, Mr Potatohead, snowmen and S'moremen and felt Pac-Men and penguins. I did go a little bit the other direction when I bought glass icicles and red velvet bows, but I think there's only three glass balls on the entire thing. When you look at the tree, you definitely see the childhood memories of two 30-something-adults reflected there. And I love it.
