2 posts tagged “christmas tree”
Originally published at file under "Miscellanea". You can comment here or there.
What a weighty title, no? But as I started to write in my new gratitude journal, I realized the end product would, indeed, be a compilation of the best moments of my life on a daily basis. I was inspired to start this journal by Michelle Ward’s tweet linking me to this post by Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar.
I’m writing the entries in a small book made for me by a friend who was learning bookbinding, and it feels like the appropriate precious vessel for all these memories. Each evening or the following morning, I review my day and write/sketch something that records the best part of that day: a conversation, something shared, an epiphany.
I started the journal yesterday, thinking that the winter solstice—when our days start to creep back toward the light—was an appropriate time to start paying attention to the light in my life.
December 21
Putting up the tree this year was victory enough, but I was surprised by the end of the night to also feel some ownership of the tree—not just that I had put up my mother’s Christmas tree. Sometimes, I think I’m going to be okay.
NB. I should probably explain the drawing, eh? It’s a small (like the size of my pinky finger) white plastic skeleton hanging on our Christmas tree. When I was a kid, he was revealed from behind a store-bought advent calendar—I have no other memories of that advent calendar, but surreal li’l Mr Skeleton has been part of my family’s Christmas tradition ever since. After each holiday, my mum took great care to make sure he was found on the tree and wrapped up in his own bag so he wouldn’t get lost amongst all the other ornaments. Coming home for the holidays whilst in college, I love searching the tree for his creepy bones. Now he hangs on my tree and is still my favorite ornament.
For the first couple of days, the tree has been up sans ornaments, since this is Ripley's first exposure to a Christmas tree and Bishop has been known to climb our smaller one Christmases past. Thus far, they seem content to just scramble around it and nibble at the lower branches, but I predict at least one kitten up in the tree before this puppy comes down.
Overall, putting up the tree and miscellaneous decorations was a bit depressing. My mum wasn't feeling well and my husband said he was "Christmas-ed out" from decorating at work, so I kinda fiddled around with things all day and did everything solo. Well, that's not 100% accurate. From the bottom two photos, you can see I had some help from Ripley, our kitten. After some initial exploration of the tree branches when they were laid out on the floor, she quickly laid claim to the tree's box and took a nap. Can't say I didn't envy her.
Anyway, today I finished putting up all the non-glass/breakable ornaments and will eventually supplement the post with a photo of the completed tree. I realized whilst hanging the ornaments that there could be a good blog post about individual ornaments, their history, their meaning. My mother's tree has an interesting mix of ornaments--storebought and handmade, celebrating interesting milestones (my first Christmas with my husband, our various new homes, etc.). Plus, not every tree has an ornament with a hedgehog hugging a cactus and don't you just want to hear more about that? ;)
