The Tree
As I glanced at the calendar this morning with all the Christmas festivities/activities ahead of us I became excited. It kicked off last weekend for us as a family as we prepared our home together for Christmas. Decorating the tree, bringing out the nativities, hanging the stockings, pulling out the Christmas stories, and much more.
I set up our tree early last week so that over the weekend the kids could help decorate. As I stood there bending every branch, fluffing it up, and getting it ready, my favorite Christmas memory came flooding back as it does every year.
If I think back to all my Chrismas memories as a child there is one that stands out far above all the rest. It doesn't involve Santa. Not a toy. Or cookie baking. Not our annual story reading. It doesn't even involve the nativity. It involves the tree.
It brings me back to just miles from my home now. It brings me back to the days of Seminary as a kid. It takes me back to West Pine Street.
Some of the details are getting foggier as years go by. We didn't have a tree for Christmas. And I think we couldn't just go buy a real one because I am allergic to them. Our artificial tree was being stored at my grandmother's house in Maryland. So my mom made the best of the situation, as she is always so great at doing, and borrrowed one that the Seminary's doctors office behind us wasn't using.
So we had the tree but still no decorations. And mom and dad didn't want to spend money (which was already tight) to buy new ones since we did own them just miles away. We went out back and picked little red berries from the bushes. Popped some popcorn and strung them together. I remember sitting with my sister and stringing berry, popcorn, popcorn, berry. Over and over again.
And it ended up being beautiful! Every year as I decorate my tree I remember back to the look of the popcorn and berries. But even more than the look I remember the sacrifice of my parents, the love poured into making the decorations, and the memory of doing it all as a family.
What's one of your favorite Christmas memories?
