O Christmas Tree

Gearing up for the holidays can be a lot of work!  It can be grueling or it can be fun; the choice is up to us whether we choose to enjoy the process or get lost in the perfectionism of having everything just right.

The first two years we were married, I had the tree all decorated to the nines.  I had the glass orbs and pretty star decorations covering some of the lights.  Icicles and glass blown ornaments I placed on the tree galore.  It was beautiful, it was elegant; if I do say so myself, it almost looked like a professional had decorated it, albeit with the human flair.

Nyssa came along between the first and second Christmases and I learned my lesson that second year about decorating for Christmas with children.  Here are some tips I learned the hard way.  Never put breakable ornaments on the tree within reach of the children.  Every single one of them will end up broken.  Also, if you think you want to use icicles, don't!  And if you do choose to use them, make sure they are high out of reach of little arms, as well, and make sure no stray foil lands near the floor where little hands can get to them.   Cuts on tiny tongues and choking on the pretty silver is not worth the aesthetics of an icicle endowed tree.

From the next year on, it's been a gradual learning of how to decorate.  The third year, we brought out all the olive wood ornaments from our time in Jerusalem.  It was a very simple tree that year, as those were just about the only ornaments we hung.  We placed an angel tree topper that I had made,  lights, a little Victorian doll ornament hung higher up representing Nyssa, a glass Snowman couple ornament represent Richard and I also placed high, another ornament for Nathaniel who had come along, and those wooden ornaments made in the shapes of nativity scenes, angels, bells, stars, wise men, and shepherds.

The year Benjamin was born, we just continued doing the same thing, adding his little ornament and ornaments with our pictures on them.  It stayed simple.  Then next year Nyssa was old enough to color pictures of ornaments, which I cut out and hung on strings.  Finally, two years ago, we started making wooden snowflakes and paper plate wreaths.

Our tree is a hodgepodge of decorations.  It's covered with special individual ornaments for each of us, our picture ornaments, and whatever else we happen to make during the season.  We make popcorn and string it.  We even got some cranberries a couple years ago.  It's nothing fancy, but it is certainly homemade.  We can truly say there is not another one like it anywhere.  It is rustic simplicity, kind of like the very first Christmas.  It's a reminder of the love we have for one another, that we are each special, and that we have been blessed with one more year together as a family.  We don't need all the fancy doo dads.  We just need each other.