As we prepare to decorate another annual fresh (dead) Christmas tree this year, I thought it would be fun to look back on previous year’s trees. Yes, here it is the 19th of December, and unlike those people who have put their’s up the day after Thanksgiving, we have yet to procure one, much less put it up.
Back when my sister and I were small children, our parents didn’t put up the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve after we were already “nestled in our beds.” We got up the next morning and – a miracle! – there was a brightly lighted tree with presents under it, in our front room’s window seat. I think we were told that Santa had put it up as well as bringing the presents. Busy guy!
When our own daughter was young, she was in full awareness of where Christmas trees really came from, thank goodness. (Much to her chagrin, probably, since we often got our a tree from a “cut your own” lot and made her slog though the cold and snow to find “just the right one.”) The installation of the tree was a full day’s work, since it not only included the tree itself, but a large plywood platform that supported The Trains. These were, in the heyday, parallel sets of tracks with two working sets of Lionel trains, carry-overs from my husband Steve’s childhood.
Over the years, a whole village grew up to compliment the trains. Shops, churches, a small forest, a covered bridge, a skating pond, eventually a sub-village of Gingerbread People, etc. etc. were added over the years. Somewhere along the way, the thrill of the whole working train production lost its thrill, but the village continued to grow and was installed under the tree. Now, it has moved from under the tree to its own whole table space.
Looking through photos from the past ten years or so, our Christmas tree looks remarkably similar. Colored lights, and a mish-mash of decorations gathered over the years, some dating back to my and my husband’s childhoods. (Maybe next year I will break these down into eras and explain some of them, but not now.) The top is not an angel, or a lighted Santa Claus like our childhood tree top, but a funky looking, insanely grinning face reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas (one of our favorite holiday shows).
One last quirky family Christmas tree tradition to share before photos…For years, my mom would come to us for Christmas, and then we would drive together after Christmas to my sister’s (at first in Connecticut, then South Carolina) for the Christmas after Christmas. My husband’s family always celebrated on January 6, Orthodox or “Old” Christmas, so it was all about my family until then.
When she could no longer travel easily, we started driving to South Carolina, her retirement destination, to do the holiday there. By then my sister had moved there too. Which means, no point in putting up a tree until we returned. Long story short, we started realizing that 1) getting a (once real) tree at that point was next to impossible, and 2) other people around our area were actually “kicking their own trees to the curb” starting December 26! You see where I am going with this? Yes, recycling is a wonderful thing.
Here’s hoping everyone reading this enjoys their winter holidays. Take a break, breathe, reminisce and relax. Eat lots of cookies and other things you will regret later. Play games and watch corny holiday movies. And let’s hope we all find some peace in 2025. Here are a few Christmas tree moments in photos! Feel free to share some of your own holiday decor memories in the comments.
