Christmas at Home

Christmas is unique where I grew up. A lot of times it isn’t all that cold, much less having snow. I remember one Christmas right before I got married when we were out in light sweaters on Christmas day. Definitely not inspiration for a Currier and Ives plate. White Christmases were only in our dreams. Christmas still held a lot of excitement. I guess I was pretty typical as far as wish lists would go. But the traditions and festivities were gigantic in my mind.

When I was very small we had a real tree bought from the local Optimists Club. My best friend’s dad was an Optimist and we always went to get our tree when he was working on the lot. Mom and Dad would scrutinize every fir there. My brother and I would be bored to tears and begging for hot chocolate. Finally, the perfect one was chosen. Even after all that the trunk and several lower branches would need to be sawn off and the thin side would be turned to the back. So much for perfect. Later, we succumbed to progress and purchased an artificial tree. At least we weren’t vacuuming up needles until next Christmas Eve.

Dad would put the lights on. I think it’s a dad thing except in my family. I, being the mother, get to do it. Maybe it’s really hereditary. Maybe my husband is just chicken. After the lights my brother and I would put every possible ornament on the tree and then tinsel. The first tries at tinsel were great bunches placed here and there. Then Mom told us it would turn out better if we would try for one piece at the time. We tried that for awhile and then….Yep! We went back to the bunches. Maybe not quite as big this time. My brother and I were a little impatient overall. Dad always had to put the angel on top. Very likely because he was the tallest at slightly over six feet. My mom is only 5’2” and we were shorter than that.

Another tradition in the city I grew up in was the lighting of the tree on Colonial Lake. This was a rather shallow man made lake downtown in which a raft with a very large tree was floated. The Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, elementary school kids and possibly some groups I don’t even know about would cover flashlights with green or red tissue paper and line the lake and sing carols. Doesn’t sound like much maybe but we looked forward to it every year. It seemed like the whole city was there. Everyone is friendlier at Christmas.