2003-12-11 - 3:53 p.m.

Christmas in our house, part II

Yesterday we discussed household decorations. Today it's time for the tree. But first, an aside.

As many of you know, my parents were not especially well off when we were younger. They were graduate students when I was born, and my dad didn't have a real (ie, non-post-doc-research) job until I was about 9.... Also, I was reading Hazebrouck's diary and thinking about the lovely ethnic experience of growing up in cities, and how, to some degree, I miss that. My friend Chris recently asked if I was 'city-people' (we were discussing a possible move to Edinburgh) and I allowed that I was, emphatically. So keep these two factoids in mind as we proceed.

Trees. Always a fresh tree, although usually cut not live. Never artificial.

We usually got it the first weekend in December or thereabouts, and it stood on the porch in a bucket for a day or so. We put it up shortly thereafter so we could admire before Christmas, and to my mind tree decorating must occur in the evening although I'm sure there were years when it didn't when I was little. Christmas was almost always at home, from about the time I was two or three until we had all moved out and home became a mutable concept, so there was never a problem with leaving the tree up til mid-January - we were there to water it, keep cats from climbing it, keep dogs from eating the ornaments (mostly), etc.

Ornaments are very important. You can read a history of my family in my collection of ornaments and those of my parents. I got "lucky" when my dad remarried that I was living on my own, so I inherited most of the family ornaments that he'd had, so he could start afresh with his new wife. I think the only one he kept was a wooden cut-out in the shape of a bell that he had made for his father (or his father had made for him). It's old and well-worn, originally painted gold with his name on it. My grandfather has been dead for 34 years, so it's a prized possession.

But back to our tree. The lights go on first, as soon as a sheet or something has been put down as a "tree skirt". My collection includes lights that *definitely* would not pass any sort of modern inspection - I think my folks bought them in the early 70's - they're Kool Brite or something like that, clear big coloured bulbs (the teardrop-shaped ones about an inch and a half long), and some of the bulbs are frosted ones from a different set. There's usually some long and involved detangling and testing process with putting them on, and that was often a masculine prerogative, although I'm sure Steve will keep that to a minimum from now on. *grin*

Next, anything long and stringy goes on the tree. There's a piece of red yarn with little rumbler bells on it that I cannot remember not having, so it's likely to be my age plus or minus. There's a string of red glass beads that is slowly getting shorter as the beads break. In my youth there were strings of popcorn & cranberries, and strings of construction paper loops glued together with that paste that you ate off the little spatula back before everything was childproofed.

Next come the glass balls. I have several generations of glass balls, some from my parents and some I've bought in the interval, in a wide range of sizes. They're mostly there as filler and to provide reflective surfaces for the lights.

Finally we come to the real ornaments. There's a collection of folding paper (like those big Xmas bells and stuff - with the honeycomb of tissue paper) Santas & Snowmen, although at least one or two have caught fire over the years or had other disabling injuries. There was a dog one year that ate a whole handful of prized ornaments - I think she was responsible for the demise of at least one snowman. There are a collection of little foldable elves with plastic faces that sort of perch on branches. There's the collection of ornaments made of doilies and beads and plastic pill bottles and little dollies that my dad's godmother made (I *know* Oregano (the dog) was responsible for semi-destroying a couple of these). There are a small collection of storebought ornaments of particular interest to family members, but the real treasures are the homemade ones.

Directions: Take a walnut, and open it carefully along the seam. Pick out the meat (and eat it!), spray paint both halves gold (have your younger daughter accidentally ingest gold paint at some point along in here), and glue them back together with a pipecleaner hook between them.

Directions: Trashpick (a foreign concept for you country-folk) a box of interesting jar lids from the neighbors down the street - black ones with gold scrollwork around the edges. Cut out pictures from old Christmas cards and glue them to the lids, then glue two lids together with a bit of yarn between them. If you let the kids cut out the pictures, they'll be more "artistic" but less regular & round than if you do it.

We did crochet snowflakes that you starch in a white-glue-and-water bath. We did little stuffed felt ornaments (you should see my earliest attempts at embroidery!). We made little carolers and reindeer out of wooden (old style) clothes pins. Someone gave us a kit of balsa-wood flat ornaments to paint and hang, and another kit of "stained glass" ones where you pour the granules into the openings and bake (sorta stained-glass meets Shrinky Dinks!)

For a while there was a run on medieval ornaments after I joined the SCA, and a collection of bizarre Clan Cambion ones when we were active in Cambion. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but it is definitely a real hodge-podge, but nearly every one has a story, and I like that.

And last but not least, the star. When we were young, the star was corrugated cardboard wrapped in tin foil, with a piece of wire (an old pipecleaner or bag tie?) through the middle to tie it on, because it was what my parents could afford. To this day, I have a cardboard star covered in foil, so if you see it during the holidays, don't laugh.

Once the tree is decorated, there is a required period of sitting and watching it with no other lights on. My sister and I observe this quiet reflection every Christmas eve that we're together. Those get fewer over the years, but I'm hoping for this year....

Tomorrow, Christmastime traditions and the dreaded recycled Advent calendars....

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