When I was young, we bought our Christmas tree the day school was dismissed for the Christmas holidays. No matter the weather, that was the day my mother and I tromped around the tree lot. It smelled so good! We never bought flocked trees to my chagrin. Every year I asked for a second tree, flocked in either black or hot pink, I wanted to decorate with silver ornaments and silver garland. Again my parents said no.
When dad returned home from work he put the tree in the stand and put the lights on the tree. Mom and I would hang the ornaments and carefully place the icicles on the tree. I did fight the urge to throw a big glob of icicles on the tree at times. Did anyone else decorate with them? I kind of miss them.
Finally, when I was 12 or so, my mother bought a little artificial tree for my bedroom and a strand of lights. She then handed me ribbons, sequins, beads, and construction paper and said make your decorations. I spent a lot of time making the decorations and enjoyed doing it.
The holidays were simpler back then, more relaxed even though there were choir concerts, caroling parties, Christmas pageants, and family gatherings. Somehow there was also time to relax in front of the tree and play board games or listen to music. Do Christmas carolers exist these days?
This time of year depresses many people, there is no delight, no joy, no hope. Try to remember them in your prayers. For some, this is the 1st Christmas without a spouse or child or parent. Their sense of normalcy is gone, for others, their homes were destroyed by Harvey, Irma, or a fire. All that was familiar to them is gone.
Pray for them, be a friend who listens, be the hands and feet of Christ.
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
2 comments:
Oh my goodness yes - I remember decorating real trees when I was a child. There were 5 of us, so lots of little hands to place ornaments on the tree. It was the weekend before Christmas when my Dad and older brothers would go out to buy a real tree.
I'm sure we didn't decorate until December 24th. That seemed to be the tradition back then.
Playing go-fish, board games, and singing in front of the tree is what we children used to do. I don't think we watched much TV, so maybe that's why we had time. Time to enjoy each other and the blessings of the season.
I'll bet you had a great time making your own decorations! Sounds like you're one creative lady. Good on your Mom for recognizing that you needed to do your own thing.
Wendy, I wanted the black or pink tree so my room would be a little "mod", so chic with silver decorations. LOL Very little TV at my house, we watched it, but many times it was only 1 or 2 shows an evening. I forgot about card games, loved playing cards.
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