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We got our Christmas tree last weekend and we have been enjoying it every night. We cut our tree down this year instead of going to a tree lot in town. It is a pinon pine and it is perfectly imperfect.
This week I have been thinking of all the Christmas trees we’ve had over the years. We’ve had a real Christmas tree each year since we’ve been married. This is our 29th Christmas together. A Christmas tree evolves each year like your family. Somethings change, like lights and kids getting older. Some things never change, like the tree topper and the magic a lit-up Christmas tree creates.
Trees of Christmas Past
One year we had a tree so prickly I could hardly put anything on it! It was given to us while we were in college and the price (free) was right, so we didn’t complain. Also, it was so poky that Jasper, who was almost 2 at the time, didn’t want anything to do with it. Bonus.
Another year I did all red lights and rocking horses. It was the year I lost my brother in a drowning accident. There wasn’t any particular connection to rocking horses and my brother. Someone gave me an ornament with a rocking horse on it after he passed away, so I decided it would be the theme for our tree that year. I’ve never done another themed tree since then, so it really was a special tree.
We had a ponderosa pine one year and that tree lasted FOREVER. I wanted to see how long I could keep it in the house. I remember putting Valentine’s hearts on it!
One year we took our Christmas tree down and hauled it out Christmas afternoon. It was so dry it was a fire hazard and needles were everywhere.
We’ve tried the big lights, colored lights, red lights, and white lights. The big lights almost caught a few things on fire and an old tree skirt shows proof of that. I’ve learned how to wrap lights so the tree will glow. It takes more time, but it looks amazing when it’s done.
One time we bought a tree, put it in the house, and let it warm up for a day before we decorated it. It was dry and dead the next day! We threw it out and got another one. It was an expensive tree that year.
Our Russian Christmas Tree
We worked in Russia for a year and a half and we were able to be there during Christmas. That was a memorable experience since Russians don’t celebrate Christmas. They focus more on the new year and celebrating Grandfather Frost.
A week before Christmas we still didn’t have a tree and the kids were dying. Joseph, Sage, and Sophie took matters into their own hands and walked probably a mile behind the ranch, in the snow and cold to look for a tree to cut down and drag home. They came home frozen and the tree they cut down was TOO big. It was like a very large, wide, tall Charlie Brown tree. That was disappointing for them after all the work they did. A few days later we went for a drive to find a tree. We found one, cut it down, and shoved it in our van. (Picture a military green Scooby Doo van.) It was still a Charlie Brown tree but we could fit it in the house.
We had all homemade ornaments on our Russian tree. We could only drape two strings of lights on the tree because the light strands didn’t plug into each other like we were used to. Santa still found us in Russia with our homely tree and normal Russian life carried on outside our door.
Christmas Tree Problems
I save ornaments for my kids so they each have their bag of special ornaments to hang on the tree. They would hang them at their eye level in one clump. I rearranged them after they went to bed and they never seemed to notice. No, I’m not a Monica Gellar.
We had one ornament of Jasper’s that would “hide” (it seemed) in the tree each year. We always found it at the last minute when the tree was about to be thrown out. I gave Jasper his ornaments when he got married. He can deal with the yearly elusive ornament now.
Tinsel was the thing to scatter on your tree when I was a kid. (I don’t know how my mom dealt with that mess.) We always found some piece of tinsel in July.
I’ve never had a flocked tree. Jeffrey remembers one of his grandmothers having a flocked tree each year. He said that if she didn’t like how the flocked tree looked, she would send it back and get another tree.
The tree topper is the one thing that hasn’t changed on our tree. We have a star and it lights up. I remember buying it at a Woolworth’s after Christmas sale. It has lasted ALL these years and through a lot of moves. It’s still exciting for me to see how it looks lit-up on top of the tree with the rest of the lights.
Make Memories
Our trees have changed over the years and we enjoy them every year and the memories we make with them. Our Christmas trees never look perfect, but they have always been perfect for us. Remember, under the Christmas tree is where childhood magic and memories happen.
Make it memorable, not perfect.
Here are some links to games that we play during the holidays. They are memorable and fun to play while you enjoy your Christmas tree. The adults, teens, and kids in our family recommend them.
