O Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree today. Thankfully it didn't seem as much of a chore as previous years. I think that's partly because my children are old enough to actually help out without a lot of extra supervision. I was able to sit down and watch the proceedings for a bit, which was much more enjoyable for me than wrangling hooks onto branches.

We have lots of ornaments, so many that we can't fit them all on our tree. And every year we add more to the collection. The fun of it is that most of them have some significance. My husband got me a Clue game ornament the year I wrote a mystery play. A Monster's Inc one came the year my five-year-old was nuts about that movie. There's an assortment of "first Christmas" ones. And a whopping collection of Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. Then of course with three girls we have all kinds of princess ornaments.

My husband and I both have our own from our childhood too. Some of them are deteriorating from age (we're not that old though!). And some are decidedly retro looking. But my favorites are the three Korean "Norige" ornaments from my mother's trip to pick up my youngest sister. They're absolutely beautiful. Bright pinks, greens and blues, with long fringed tails. There's a pair of hanbok shoes for sociability, a stocking for longevity and a folded oculus representing the balance of yin and yang. I love how they stand out from the rest of the ornaments. It reminds me of my family and how much I appreciate having grown up exposed (at least in a small part) to this other culture.

So the tree is up and decorated. My little HO train has been zipping around underneath it (actually today we only got out the street car - boy, does that thing fly along the track. We'll pull out the engine and freight cars later).We drank eggnog and listened to Christmas music as we worked (Bethany's favorite tradition). And now the kids are going all around the house singing Christmas tunes. A few more days of it and I may be ready to switch it off (help! I think all my "regular" radio stations are playing "All Christmas, all the time"). We're in the Christmas spirit at our house. How about you?