As a kid our Christmas tree was very reflective of our family and home environment. It was big and tall, cut down from a muddy tree farm behind our house. The ornaments were loud and uncoordinated and unevenly dispersed. Every year my mom would get each kid a new ornament. Some years they were from a sale at Meier & Frank (a red and green cloth doll for me, a glittered planet orb for Scott, etc . . .) and some years they were souvenirs from a trip abroad (paper doll ornaments from England, tribal giraffes from Kenya . . . ). And inevitably we kids added our own home/church/school made versions. My favorite was a bright yellow clay angel made in preschool until one year the ornament unveiling revealed a toilet paper wad cradling three broken pieces of angel. We also hung dozens of candy canes. I took pride in finding the best hidden spot on the tree for my favorite flavors. I am pretty sure Annelisa did this too. Maybe we all did because by the time Christmas arrived only the boring flavored candy canes (ie peppermint) were left.
Our green puffy tree was swaddled in layers of colored lights and sprinkled with years of ornament accumulation. As friends came over and look at the tall, towering Douglas Fir my chest swelled with pride. I just knew our tree was the biggest and brightest. It is this bright colorful mess that is quite possibly the very image of childhood Christmas memories imprinted on my heart.
It was not until the first year of my marriage that I realized my family tree was maybe not what others considered ideal. Our landlord's tree in Utah was big and tall, but strangely color-coordinated with pretty reds and golds. My in-laws had two trees. A smaller one adorned with musical ornaments for their musical family, and a big one decorated with soothing whites and silvers. The feeling and ambiance of their trees were not better, but definitely different than my family's. Never before did I realize a Christmas tree could be calming and peaceful, sort of like watching the boisterous Northern Lights but not hearing a sound.
Now that I share my house with Billy, and we have the fun chance to turn it into a home, I feel torn between the two kinds of Christmas trees. One is big, bushy, and messy in a good way. The other is an attempt at a Martha Stewart Christmas tree; a tree that is festive in a quiet sort of way. Both reflect love and prettiness, just more or less of each.
So which one do you think I should chose? Which one would you chose?
Well, I have already chosen. This year are tree is a simple Noble from a local tree farm. It is strung with white lights and decorated with shades of white, silver, and a touch of blue. It is pretty. I would post a picture if I had a working camera with a computer connection (long story). Hopefully a picture will come soon.
But I still want to know your opinions. What kind of tree philosophy do you have?
4 comments:
Hey, it's me! I like the post. I went with a Christmas houseplant this year. I just strung lights on my largest dying plant. I have learned something about myself... I am not motivated enough to be festive. Not that I don't like seasonal things, I do, just as long as I can eat or drink them.
So, about the tree, I would say be true to your self, and we all know that means the giant memory-explosion-of-a-tree. I'm thinking strands of lights with a few dead bulbs, Santas that have been glued back together and a topper that is a little out-dated. Those were the trees that I grew up with until the very sad day that my mom began to coordinate and we were no longer invited to help with the decorating. So why have I grown into an unfestive adult? Well, I speculate that it might have something to do with order and my poor broken heart (which I shall someday glue back together and hang on a tree next to Mrs. Clause).
When it was just me and Paul, we had a rather nice color coordinated tree. Now that we have D, I feel the need to revert back to my childhood. My parents sent me some old ornaments from when I was a kid and we have some homemade snowflakes we added also. This year we have white, but next year we will definitely do colored lights. It just seems more fun for the kiddos when it's a random, sentimental mess!
I'm all about Christmas trees with character. My mom also got us a new ornament every year, and this year I got all my old ones, so our tree is decorated with them. It's not fancy, but it's ours. It's nice to have nice looking trees, but Christmas isn't about nice looking trees, it's about family and a tree full of memories is quite familial!
My tree this year is conglomeration of what we had. There are a few ornaments, only two strings of lights, and a few ball ornaments, and none of it is coordinated. I guess that makes my tree like your family tree, which sounds a lot like my family tree. I think a tree should have personality, and reflect the family. As I said about my tree, it should make your house a home. Right? My tree right now is missing all of the bottom ornaments, because Dottie has hidden these non-breakables (I was smart and protected the valuable ornaments) in various places around the house.
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