Christmas Decorations
I have a
love hate relationship with Christmas decorations. I love them…I hate putting them up and taking
them down.
For years I put
up lights outside the house and inside around the tree. Lights that worked the year before but needed
tapping on and or replacing to work 12 months later. Lights that were carefully wound up and put
away that had somehow become a tangled mess 12 months later.
We used to
get cut trees and a few years tried live trees but later went to an artificial
tree. The artificial tree saved money in
the long run, and also saved freezing your buns off in a tree lot looking for
the perfect tree, which in the eyes of every wife ever does not exist.
The deciding
factor for a real tree was the children.
Children like the tree buying and the tree trimming, the tree balancing
and the daddy tree cursing. They liked
the needles and the smell.
I’ve come to
realize that Christmas is for children.
Without children in the house there is no need for lights, ornaments or
trees. I still love the
decorations. I like that homes in the
neighborhood are decorated, I even appreciate the complete Christmas wacko’s
who go crazy with lights on the house and yard and blow-up Santa and reindeer
on their roof. Oh, they are crazy, but
sometimes it is good to have crazies in the neighborhood.
The kids
love it and it does make me smile.
I smile
because I don’t have to put them up or take them down anymore. We do have a tree in a closet that we have
not taken out in four years. No lights
in our house, no tree, no ornaments, no tinsel.
We do hang a wreath on the door, I’m not a Grinch for gosh sakes! My grandchildren’s homes are properly
decorated and I love seeing their trees on Facebook or if we get to visit. I’m glad they get the full Christmas
decoration experience.
I don’t need
it anymore in my house. The aggravation
was more than worth it when there were kids.
It was worth it to recreate the experience I had as a child when my dad
cursed and haggled with tangled lights and frigid weather and then flipped the
switch to light up the magic.
I am not a
Scrooge I don’t do the “humbug” thing. I
love the decorations, I love the Christmas delight I see in children’s
faces. I just don’t need to go through
the decoration effort anymore. There are
no children to visit, no memories to create.
I have my
memories, the memories of my childhood Christmas delight, memories of my children’s
Christmas delight, and seeing the delight in my grandchildren.
Christmas is
a magical time of year. I know it is a
Religious day, but it is more than that.
I know it represents the birth of Christ, but doesn’t it also represent
the birth of all children, the joy of life itself?
Christmas is
for kids, and when I see the effort of other people’s decorations without
decorating myself, I feel like a kid.
You're speaking my language. We used to go all-out with decorations, but not any more. Now, less really is more for us. Our "tree" is a cardboard cut-out decorated with bubble lights and glued-on "balls." My hubby hangs it at the front window, and then takes it down after the first of the year. Takes all of five minutes. We don't have to worry about the cats climbing a real tree and breaking our antique ornaments (which our kids don't want, darn it) and it's easy-peasy. Nowadays, easy-peasy is our favorite way to live.
ReplyDeleteHow appropriate to read your post, as I sit here trying to decide if I want to put up the tree this year. On the one hand it will be pretty and cheerful, but it would only be seen by the two of us and the occasional visitor. I would have to move a chair, which I have no place for unless I haul it upstairs to the master bedroom. Luckily, the chair is lightweight, but no matter how careful I am I always scrape the wall. My husband reminded me that we didn't put it up last year, just some of the decorations. I guess it all depends on how energetic I feel in the morning!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. In fact I was just thinking about this today. Christmas is really truly fun if you have kids in the house still full with awe of the day and presents, decorations, etc. We have a string of lights outside around the house and that's about it. Gave the artificial tree we bought 2 years ago to son for his family as his got destroyed out in the shed this past summer with a macroburst of rain during one of our monsoons. Don't even miss it that we will not have a tree to put up. I do like though driving neighborhoods and seeing their decorations.
ReplyDeletebetty
My grandma, my uncle, and later my cousin owned a Christmas tree farm. My whole life, we've had a free Scotch Pine. We could drive and walk through the fields to pick it out and saw it down, or choose one leaning against the wires up front by the entrance. Some years, we had TWO trees, the Scotch Pine for the family room and pile of gifts, and an artificial for the living room.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that when my boys were young, I ADORED those Christmas trees. The smell. The glow of the lights. I'd sit up late, with only the tree lights (and TV of course) for illumination. Once Genius left for college, we started cutting back on the decorating. I miss the anticipation of Christmas.
At least we still have our outside lights, left up year round, clipped to the soffits. All they need is the flip of a switch in the garage. Hick is going to put out some yard decorations on Sunday. Because our grandson, HOS's boy, asked about them. I don't think he knew he was volunteering to help.
I decorate the inside of my house but we haven't had a tree for years--I miss it!!
ReplyDeleteMy family already have our tree and decorations up. I really like the Christmas tree and some decorations. Mostly I like eating Christmas themed food. Being a Christian, my family uses this day to honor the birth of Christ. I mostly do religious things.
ReplyDeleteBut I understand about having to take down the decorations which is why my family don't decorate too much and not at all outside in the yard.
I love Christmas decorations too, but not many people here decorate the outside of their house or their yards. There'll be a few, but not enough to make walking the streets fun looking for them. There is a small town in the hills area here that goes all-out and people take bus trips up there to see the lights. I always plan on going but haven't done it et.
ReplyDeleteWe never went over the top with decorations but always had a tree. Having a tree ceased as we grew older and when Joe died I stopped doing anything. It would be folly for me now to start climbing steps to put the lights up.
ReplyDeleteWe've had cats and kids that were tree climbers forever, so we don't decorate much, either. It's great to go to other people's homes and see their stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe only "safe" place to decorate in our house is the top of the fridge, so this year i have a poinsettia someone gave me that will be decorated with a red ribbon and surrounded by Christmas cards, all on top of the fridge. Grab the step stool and climb up if you want a better look.
I am blessed that my daughter and her family travel from the other side of the country to spend Christmas with us. It is for my grandchildren that I untangle the lights, decorate the tree and run around in unpleasant weather to decorate the trees outside. If it wasn’t for them, I would probably not make the effort. It still gives me joy, but that is because there are children involved.
ReplyDeleteMy husband must still be a child. We have about 12 trees we decorate every year.
ReplyDeleteMy cat made having a tree history. She would enjoy it for one day, then pounce in the middle and bring it all down with shattered lights and bulbs. So I no longer decorate but must admit I don't miss taking it all down and having my house return to boring blah by comparison. You are right, it is for kids.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and your family Joe.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
A wreath on the door is our only outside decoration. Only a few sit-arounds inside and they haven't been put out yet. Haven't had a live tree in many, many decades and it's been years since we had an artificial tree. Decorated inside trees and cats just don't go together.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to do a bunch of decorating but ..... I've got an in-grown critic who always wants something different than I wanna do and, well, won't compromise. Truth be told, I haven't even helped decorate the tree in perhaps 10 years 'cause "That doesn't go there, it goes over here!" gets old pretty quick. I pull out the boxes, set up the tree, and clean up the mess ....... Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete