Saturday, December 13, 2008

deck the halls

A tradition I have insisted on since I was a little girl is to have the Christmas tree up and decorated before my birthday, the 7th of December. As much as I loathe the dreaded birthday-Christmas combination gifts, I am okay with holiday decorations in the birthday celebration mix. Not sure why. It just feels like my birthday that way.

A tradition my husband has insisted on every Christmas we've been together is getting a Frasier Fir at Oakland Nursery. They are a full tree with a wonderful aroma. However, they are the priciest type, I believe, so we always end up with a short squatty one that still sets us back $40. This year we stumbled upon a new variety, the Canaan Fir: Ohio-grown, strong piney aroma, sturdy long-lasting branches and needles. For the typical $40, we were able to bring home a massive 7--8 footer! C had to make a couple of extra cuts to it in order to get it in the house and upright.

J was pretty impressed with seeing a live tree in the middle of our living room. He was also impressed with himself for the way that he "helped Daddy".
When it comes to decorating the tree, I always enjoy looking through our ornaments, finding ones I forgot about alongside the cherished favorites. But, this year we cannot find one whole box of ornaments; and, of course, it's the box that holds most of our favorites: my glass reindeer that looks so glowy when placed right in front of a tree light; the personalized sailboat ornament from our honeymoon; the wooden black bear carving from our trip to the Smokies; the "It's a girl!" 1978 globe; and, best of all, the homemade ones our parents saved and bestowed upon us. I really must look harder to find those because I love them (and our tree looks rather bare). J slowly and deliberately repeated "or-NA-ment" as he picked through one of the boxes, identifying snowmen and Santas. After much prodding, he agreed to help me actually hang the ornaments on the tree. Although, for him, this process just involved moving the same ornament over and over again to different spots on the tree.
Moments later, he hit the jackpot and discovered a gaudy, glittery train ornament.
He absconded with it straight to his LEGO table and began chugging and choo-chooing around and around. Within minutes, J's "uh-oh" alerted me to the fact that the ribbon and hook had already become dislodged. Later that evening I found the pitiful thing further crushed from its rough ride with J. Oh well, better it than my glass reindeer!



Happy decorating! Hope your holiday preparations are as fun-filled.

3 comments:

Cheryl said...

Your tree sounds beautiful - whoa 7 or 8 feet! I really hope you find that box or ornaments...or as Eleanor calls them (funny thinking of our kiddos different pronunciations) - ORments - totally skips the part that J stresses. ha!

Even though J's bday is even closer to Christmas than yours, he is lucky his mama has a december bday in December and she will do her best to make sure he gets lots of non bday/christmas combos (although it is the thought that counts). I try the same with Eleanor. :) xx

Amanda said...

We love frasier firs here too!

I love how everyone has a few of those special ornaments we remember from our childhood. One of my favorite ornaments is one of my husbands actually...a wooden airplane. He said he used to fly around with when they put up their tree up as a kid. I love thinking about what ornaments our kids will love someday.

Beth said...

I truly miss having a live tree. I tried and tried to talk my husband into making the switch but no luck. Keep telling myself that we are being green. Living through you and Amanda ;)