I love Christmas trees. I have always liked the ones that our bigger than life. The ones that are so big you can't wrap your arms around them. I decorate the old fashion way. I have a mish-mash of ornaments - homemade, family heirlooms, glass balls, and Walmart specials. I love my colored flashing lights and my silver tinsel. And when all is said and done, it's not a Christmas tree until I add Candy Canes and cover it with those old-timey icicles.
It may not be politically correct to cover with a hodge podge of decorations. So many trees nowadays are "themed" trees or color co-ordinated to match the decor of the room they grace. But not mine. My tree is the way we like it. It's the way we had trees when we were growing up and it's not Christmas without our traditional tree.
Welllll, this year, I decided I was going to break with tradition. I was going to downsize the tree. I was going to part with my 7 1/2' Prelit Matha Stewart and go to a small 6' Slimline tree. I posted my old tree for sale. I picked out the new one I want and picked out the lights that I'll use on it. I have everything all planned. It was going to be awesome having such a smaller tree to decorate. It would cut my tree trimming time in half. It wouldn't take up so much room in the living room. It was a great idea and I was very excited about it.......until yesterday.
I was reminiscing about Christmas's past; about the pleasure on the kids faces when they would get up and see the presents surrounding the tree. In my mind, I can see the pictures I take every year of the grandchildren gathering around the tree. I can see hubby and I reclined on the couch with the lights from the tree being the only lights in the room as we admired our Christmas tree in all her majesty.
Then it hit me. How can I change tradition? How I can break out of the mold of something that is a part of my entire being? I could picture the kids coming over for our family gathering. I could picture them gazing in shock at the the newly downsized tree. I could hear their shocked "MOM! What did you do to your tree?" and "But you ALWAYS have a big tree."
And then I knew. My big trees at Christmas are special to me. They hold a world of memories. I cannot imagine Christmas with a downsized tree. So after all my planning and excitement over changing trees, I'm not going to. I'm going to keep my Christmas the way I like Christmas and not make the change.
