Christmas Cheers
Our house is almost completely decorated for the Christmas season. As per tradition, James brings out all the boxes the day after Thanksgiving and I set to decorating. I got the tree up and then started testing lights. I had 7 strands of multi-colored lights left from last hear, and only one worked. The short one. Stay home or go buy lights, that is the question. The answer: stay home. I found a couple long strands of white lights left over from pre-children days. I love white lights. They draw me in like nothing else. Enchanting. Took a poll: can the rest of the family live with white lights this year? yes.

After the white lights were strung, I decided to hang my snowflake collection on the tree. Perhaps I could have a snowflake tree for a week and then add the family decorations? I remember my mom always had a themed Christmas tree. One year it was covered with red velvet bows, the next it was blue glass balls and the next year it was flocked and drenched in white....every year was different, every year was beautiful. But our tree is a collection of ornaments that span decades and carry sentimental value. We have a felt beaver James' mother made for him, a Santa in a clear ball that always hung on my Grandma Wilson's tree, a Veggie Tale's Bob the Tomato ornament and various other strange things. It doesn't make the most visually appealling tree, but it does get to the heart. That said, everyone likes the snowflake tree, so it will likely stay all season this year. We've designated a smaller tree to hold some of our most sentimental ornaments this year.

I also purchased some old-fashioned multi-colored Christmas bulbs at last year's after-Christmas sales. I told my children they were the kind of lights we had when I was a child and they thought they were "cool." We strung them on the gate outside and decorated a small tree for the porch. I could probably sit and stare at them for hours. They recall so many childhood memories. In particular, I think of my parent's home town where my grandfather, the city worker, strung those lights over the streets on the square every year. When it snowed, the town was magical.

I'll leave you with a quote from today's Bleat. I couldn't agree more:

"No Christmas chore should make your heart heavy, that’s the key. That’s the secret. Every duty and obligation is really a blessing, an opportunity. Don’t imagine this was your last Christmas, and you had to make it Great.
Imagine it’s your first."