Earl and I are still decorating our tree. What I’m struck with is how many ornaments have special sentimental value. It’s not just the ones we’ve purchased as souvenirs on our many trips; it’s also the ones given us from friends and family over the years.
One special friend has given me ornaments for twenty years. Some are Waterford; others are symbolic of something we’ve shared: a trip to Las Vegas, friendship, music. All are front and center on this year’s tree.
Other ornaments came from family: the replica of a cruise ship to represent our love of cruising, the two limes to represent my cocktail of choice, the four lockets my son and his partner brought to decorate the first tree we did together in the mid-1990s.
Since we’re reminiscing, I still recall the first tree I decorated after my wedding. (To be honest, I wasn’t married to Earl then.) That was 1965, and my then-husband and I agreed every ornament on the tree would be red. Red balls, no lights, no other decorations. And we loved it. Some of those red balls, cracked and fragile, survive today and are on our current tree.
So it goes . . . I really don’t like the work of putting up a Christmas tree, but I love recalling how each ornament came to be on it. Perhaps that’s what it’s really all about.
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