Tree Story

This holiday season I was once again blessed with the duty of dragging all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic and into the living room. I assembled the pre-lit artificial tree, a far cry from the tree of ole we used to buy with a root ball and plant in the back yard or the "live" cut tree we would burn in a ditch around the first week of January. Since I can remember we have decorated the tree with all kinds of things. White lights, mutli-colored lights, multicolored over-sized burn-your-house-down lights, a rainbow of satin thread covered polystyrene balls, paisley ribbons, gold ribbons, strings of real popcorn (yes, I nibbled some) glass balls from gold to gray, cloth and paper decorations made at school, Peanuts wooden decorations made at home, stencil (I'm not sure how to spell that but it is the shiney bits of mylar that was supposed to look like snow... I think... it burns well too) and so many more from years of trees. In the past years parents have put up a tree that looked like anything you might find in the aisle at a department store. Fake tree, ribbons, gold grapes, some ivy and a big flowing ribbon on the top. In her defense she did have a dress store for several years and did the same there during the season. But I remember something else, making that tree shine with my siblings and talking about each and every decoration we put on a metal hook and placed with love on that tree. If I wanted to see the ribbon tree... I can go to Belk or Macy's. I want our tree... the one with pretty decorations and even more goofy, "Where'd we get that" ornaments. So this year I hung them. As I was hanging I wanted the tree to tell a story of Christmases past. The ornaments made with sequins and styrofoam balls; Santa in a hot air balloon, a young married couple in a cuckoo clock, and a little stocking. My dad made these probably more than 40 years ago. We also have the balls my grandmother got from Hallmark about every year in the late 70's and early 80's. My other grandmother knitted little snowflakes and angels in white and sprayed them to keep them stiff for the tree. And then there are the "German Decorations." Those I find in an old Mikasa box with worn masking tape on the top. "German Christmas Oraments Fragile Do Not Store In Attic!" Of course they are among the rest... in the attic. the extreme heat in the summer has ruined a few, but most of my favorites are still intact. There are little wooden hobby horses, little wooden angels, little wooden nativity scenes, little wooden trains and... well you get get the picture. And in more recent years we have collected ornaments from the City of Boaz, the Girl Scouts and various medical institutons. As I hang each of these... from the boughs I remeber the Christmasa long gone but always remembered by these little tokens of the season.
Happy Christmas y'all.