It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Yesterday we finished our Christmas decorating. I absolutely love decorating the Christmas tree. It's one of my favorite family traditions. We started buying a tree ornament each year for our boys from their first Christmas. When they leave home and begin having their own Christmases they will have an armful of memories from our house to take with them. Well, that's the theory anyway.

For now, each year when we decorate the tree, we talk about where we bought the ornament and the circumstances of the purchase. As they grow older, the boys remember the stories with a bit more detail or, lately, with a memory of their own they hadn't shared before. It's all part of the ebb and flow of putting the ornament hooks on and placing the decorations on the tree.

The ornaments vary widely in price, looks, and theme. There's a Darth Vader ornament and a ceramic Santa kneeling beside Baby Jesus. One year the boys picked cruise ship ornaments decorated with tiny little Christmas lights and wreaths in a store in Key West when we were visiting their paternal grandfather there. There's a Goofy kicking a soccer ball for the soccer years. That particular year my older son was on an all-star team and played through the month of December in tournaments which was fun but exhausting! Anyway, we have a little bit of everything on our tree.

So putting the ornaments on the tree, bickering and giving each other advice and me begging for some sort of order and symmetry is part of our annual ritual preparing for Christmas. I must say last night was no exception. With bellies full of take out Chinese we tackled the tree and laughed, teased, and debated over each ornament...the new and the old. I, of course, loved every minute. The men in my life always look at me baffled and wonder what the big deal is. Doesn't matter, everyone was home, no plans with girlfriends, no places to go or people to see, they were home decorating the tree with their family.

Bliss!