It seems like Christmas decorations appear in stores earlier and earlier every year. They appeared in our local store before Labor Day this year.
We usually wait until after Thanksgiving to get our tree. We go to a local tree farm and cut one down. I am very particular about which tree we get. It must touch the ceiling. My mom always wanted one that would fit on the coffee table so I suppose it’s a reaction to that. We did need the living room space when everyone came over on Christmas day though, so the size was practical.
Last year, we did get our tree before Thanksgiving, but didn’t put it up until after. The kids did all the decorating as well. They are tall enough now that the ornaments were spread fairly well around the tree. Previously, they would load all the ornaments on two or three boughs of the tree.
The kids are also old enough that I can put out some of the more delicate decorations with a slightly less than fifty percent chance that they will get broken. My mom had a porcelain, lighted musical tree. You know the ones with the plastic peg lights? This one is like it, but it also has a carolers and a church. The steeple of the church is broken, but I have no recollection of that, although it is probably my fault. It plays “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” That goes on the kitchen counter (Safest spot, I think.) along with several other lighted decorations: a snowman with half his hat missing, and an angel with no wings.
I’m seeing a trend here. Perhaps it’s time for some new decorations.
Which reminds me of my mother’s decorations. I’m sure her tree ornaments were older than than the hills. Some were so tattered and beat up, but she insisted we put them all on the tree. I tried to leave off the plastic icicles with the hooks too tiny to fit on the branches and they always fell on the floor. They appeared on the tree the next day. I also tried to throw away the tinsel garland that had deteriorated to little more than the central wire and a couple sparse fringes. It also appeared on the tree the next day.
I guess some traditions are too good not to keep.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
Yes, some traditions are good to keep, but only if they have meaning to you. My mom was surprised the first year I didn’t put icicles or the metallic garland on our tree, but when I reminded her how much time we spent untangling it, she understood that I felt my time was worth more. But several of my ornaments – like the little star made out of popsicle sticks, and the candy cane made out of pipe cleaners – I’ll keep them forever, because I remember the little girls who made them for me.
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I don’t think I will ever need to buy ornaments with all the ones the kids make. The trick is keeping them from destroying them. The girls like to take things apart that they have made.
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growing up, my family was not terribly “big” on decorating — or gifts either, for that matter.
I don’t recall any special decorations and often our trees were just ones that my dad spotted from the roadside and chopped down.
My wife’s family, however, gave special ornaments to my wife and her sister — each had a date written on it in fingernail polish. Some of those still survive after nearly six decades. But several broke over the years. Anyway, my wife began that tradition with our kids and for their younger years, they received ornaments in addition to gifts.
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That’s a cool idea! I have a friend that gets a Disney one every year. It’s a fun tradition.
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In recent years I’ve had to dial back the number of ornaments on our tree due to two cats who are certain I put them there for their pleasure . I have one ornament that is probably close to 100 years old a nd belonged to my dad when he was a boy. His grandma made it for him, and I wrote a story about it one time. That and the ones my kids had when they were little are my favorites.
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That ornament sounds really cool. We have one that my husband got as a baby, but that’s the oldest. I used to have one, but it broke when my mom and I tried to set up our tree and couldn’t get the stand to work, so we used a bucket of dirt. Needless to say, the tree fell over and that was the only ornament that broke.
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Those icicles were always falling off our tree too.
I bet your kids love decorating the tree.
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