Christmas Tree Past

Long ago, in my retail display lifetime, I had genteel themed Christmas decor every year. We had plaid bows, sprigs of baby's breath, homemade cookie ornaments, and carefully chosen one-color ornaments.

Need I say that this was pre-kids? Once we had kids and they hit preschool, the ornaments made of glued-on pasta began to appear, followed shortly by the walnuts painted to resemble strawberries, the applesauce dough ornaments, and little felt doodads marked with Brownie troop numbers. Sophisticated themed (if cookie ornaments could ever be considered sophisticated) trees were a thing of the past.

And of course I grew to love this happy hodge podge. Every little ornament was carefully wrapped every year and saved, and every one of them still trots out each year to appear on our Christmas tree.

Now that the kids are in their 20s, it's all an exercise in nostalgia--the little park bench mouse that Will had to take to bed with him, Caroline's preschool photo framed in the aforementioned pasta, the yellow felt Pac-Man ornament, the red apple that says "William's First Christmas".

We've picked up ornaments along the way that express ongoing family interests: LOTS of ski-themed decorations, some quilt-y ornaments, a couple teeny electric guitars. There have been gifts of meaningful ornaments--a family member gave me a little glass raccoon which reminds me of shared summer excursions when we were allowed to feed the raccoons at the roadside in Allegany State Park. And lately I've added a few food-related ornaments...

I look at our tree and see so much richness, the layering of years, gifts, get-togethers, people who've moved in and out of my life.

Many memories of years that flew away far too fast...