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I meant to post this last week but never found the time……here it is – better late than never!

Each year around this time, I feel the need to build a closet in my basement to house my fully decorated Christmas tree for the “other eleven months” of the year. I usually dread hauling the tree and decoration boxes in from the garage, undressing the tree – ornament by ornament – and removing all other signs of Christmas from the house. It’s not that I’m not ready to take it all down. Believe me, I’ve usually had enough of the season by Boxing Day – it’s more the process itself and ensuring that all of the pieces of the puzzles fit properly back into their respective boxes. Wouldn’t it be great to just be able to pull out a fully decorated tree on December 1st, plug it in and enjoy it?

But…..there’s definitely something inherent in the process itself – at least of setting it all up in December – that makes it very worthwhile.

In addition to the shiny baubles and garland we decorate the tree with each year, we always make or purchase new ornaments each year – one for each of us – that have some special significance. Maybe it’s a new hobby or interest we’ve picked up over the year:

or a declaration of allegiance:

a personal passion:

gifts passed down to us that bring back happy childhood memories:

a reminder of a friend no longer with us:

or a new friend who’s come into our lives:

ornaments handmade by the boys when they were small (wasn’t that just yesterday?!):

or ornaments we just simply look forward to seeing again every year:

Rediscovering these ornaments each year is an activity I wouldn’t trade for the world. There’s nothing like spending a chilly winter afternoon listening to Christmas music and pulling them all out of their boxes again. The memories all come flooding back and, as each ornament is added to the tree, it becomes a beautiful, lit up scrapbook of our life together and it never loses its magical, warm quality for me. I just love it.

One day, the boys will move out and will take with them “their” ornaments – a ready-made tree should they need it – and should their significant others allow it! If they don’t, I will gladly keep a few spots on our tree for them!

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