It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 

We tackled our first (I say 'first' since Noah was really too little to participate last year, and Asha had no interest) Christmas decorating project last weekend. And when we decorate, we don't mess around.  Holiday decorating is serious business.

It is a tradition that has been passed down to me from my mother.  Every year, usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, Kerr-Bear would trot out her 41+ boxes of holiday decor from the basement.  It was our duty to ensure that our home looked like it was darn good and festive! There was not one hall undecked: each shelf filled with Santa figurines, each wall plastered with snowman hangings, each candle held by angels, and every bit of extra floor space covered with stuffed reindeer, Santa Bears & of course that Christmas necessity, Santa Kermit & Mrs. Claus Miss Piggy. 

And the tree.  Aah, the tree.  Up until about 10 years ago, when they switched to a artificial tree (much to the chagrin of my little brother), Dad would bring home a real live Christmas tree for us to decorate and admire every night until Christmas.  We'd be "asked" to help decorate the tree (read: get your butts in here and help me with this or you will find nothing but a rock in your latch-hooked stocking this year!)  So Mom would pass out the garland, crack open the boxes upon boxes of ornaments, and crank up Vince Gill's "Let There Be Peace on Earth" album.  An ironically titled album, as generally there was not peace in the living room as we loveley'd up thy branches. Tensions ran high hanging those sequin-studded kitten-in-a-stocking ornaments from the branches while getting stabbed by its prickly needles until your hands turned red & blotchy.  Every year at least one of us would end up storming off, vowing to "never, ever do this again", only to sheepishly return a few minutes later so as not to miss the unveiling:  that "aaaah" moment when finally the lights were turned down and that beautifully decked Christmas tree stood glimmering in all it's pine-smellin' splendor!  All in all, pretty precious memories.  Usually these memories were captured by the ol' Kodak, the results of which were frequently used as our family's Christmas card photo, like so:




As you can plainly see, yes, we are HAPPY about this season!
This may or may not have been taken following one of the storm-off meltdowns I described earlier.

 

Now that I have a family of my own, I thought, "hey, I'd love to start that tradition too."  Rookie mistake: my kids happen to be too young to have enough attention span to last through my digging through boxes to find the "non-breakable" ornaments.  I'm not gonna name names here, but someone was far more interested in playing dressup than helping Mommy as she so sweetly promised.  And another someone kept trying to pull the decorations off the tree faster than we could get them on, and got sent downstairs to play with Daddy.  So I ended up doing most of the decorating myself.  But I did get a few brief but sweet moments of decorating assistance from my little friends...

So this is what our own little family decorating tradition looks like.  We dress up like Santa to get in the spirit of things...

We sing carols while we hang the ornaments...

And everyone, big or small, pitches in (except Daddy, because, as Asha recently asked him "are you like the Grinch or somethin'?")

We revel in the beauty of the shiny ornaments...

And then we take a bite, just to see if they taste as good as they look.

We show how angelic we can really be... 

And now it seems that I might be passing the decorating spirit torch to the next generation.  Asha got her very own little tree (thanks, Grama Debbie) which now lives in her room, cuz' you know, every 4-year old needs their own tree, or so I've been informed.

So thanks, Mom, for starting this tradition. And um, sorry about all those times we fought and whined & complained and "ruined the Christmas spirit". Our first annual tradition may not have been perfect, but it most certainly was very memorable time spent together. And I guess that's really what it's all about now, isn't it?  

 

 Through the years we all will be together,

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.

And have yourself A merry little Christmas now!