O Christmas Tree

I love our family Christmas tree. Last year we bought an artificial tree, pre-lit and all, which was fine in our little apartment for people with a teeny little baby who were about to move to a new house. I kicked and screamed about artificial trees--I am not a fan. But we got one and it was fine. This year, however, our house layout made a real tree easier to manage--quick in and out with no carpet to pull needles out of. So it's back to a real tree!

Anyway, over the years, we have chopped down our own tree, gotten a wide and wild one from the Yale School of Forestry, bought from Home Depot and local lots, grocery stores and tree farms. We always manage to get a great looking tree that smells fresh and never stays well-watered. What I love best, however, are the ornaments. When Peter and I were dating, we started a tradition of exchanging ornaments each Christmas. By the time we were married--10 years ago next week!--we had 14 ornaments between us. For our honeymoon we were in New York City for Christmas, but our first year with a tree, we proudly hung the 14 ornaments. We bought cheap plaster ornaments and painted them, along with a piece-by-piece wooden nativity set that we also painted. We had no money but we made it all work!

Even now, every ornament on our tree tells a story. Broke college students, broke newlyweds, new parents x3. Every trip we take we try to find an ornament, so we have a turtle from Oregon, a decorated/painted egg from the Czech Republic, a DisneyWorld Mickey Mouse one, a candle from Maine, a Lincoln Memorial one from DC, a baseball one from Cooperstown, NY. There are ornaments for each child for each year, handmade ornaments from the kids, ornaments with our dogs' names, ornaments we received as gifts.

There is a time and a place for a tree with a theme, with color-coordinated balls and ribbons and perfect symmetry. Our family tree will never be that kind of tree, but it's perfect just the way it is!