Sunday

This Festive Season


Holy crow, I just LOVE Christmas! I'm listening to Christmas music while I write this and yesterday I spent hours cleaning my house, dragging endless boxes up from the basement and casting my holiday wand over my house to make this place beautifully festive. It makes me really happy to come home to a lit Christmas tree and the smell of cinnamon and cedar. I don't have a real tree, in fact I've never had a real tree in my life. My mom was allergic and I'm not entirely sure how cool I am with cutting down trees and then throwing them out with the trash a month later. Seems wasteful, ya know?

This year I bought a pink tree for my bedroom. I'm all about the themes. I decorated this tree with all muted greens and whites. The small tree in my upstairs hallways is a sparkling blue and silver masterpiece. The main floor tree is covered in burgundy, forest green and gold. That's my mom's tree. I bought some new ornaments for it last year, but I keep that one decorated in her favourite holiday colours. I still string her cranberry garland around the tree and feel like she's still here if I'm still decorating the tree her way. In the basement is the big tree and it's covered in the kid decorations and all the ornaments we've accumulated over the last 30 years. Lots of ornaments my Nanny made are on there, along with a mish-mash of colourful, vibrant and whimsical decorations that remind me of all the Christmases I've had and I feel blessed. The funny part about this tree is that since Christmas 2007 it has been fully decorated and set up in my basement. The deal was I would put up all the Christmas stuff and my Dad and sisters would take it all down. Eventually I got tired of waiting and cleared out all the stuff on the main floor and upstairs. I've got to give them credit because when they don't want to do something, they're not giving in. That tree is still sitting there and it's starting to lean a bit. One of Chandler's friends loves coming over at any point in the year and seeing that tree in the basement. It makes him happy! It makes me nostalgic, but ya I'd sort of like it to be taken down this January, but I'm not counting on it.

The first ornament I picked out is still on the basement tree each year. My mom said I was still so young that I was in a stroller and I reached out to a small treasure of glass balloons. They clip onto the tree and are held up with a strong wire so they look like they're floating. I smile just thinking about them. When I move out and start filling my own house with Christmas trees, those are coming with me. My mom said that each year we bulked up our Christmas ornaments and I could pick a new one each year. The balloons were my first.

My sister Chelsea got a dark purple tree this year and used all golds and rusts to decorate it. The tree's a beauty and very Chels. I found a stellar website for all those folks who really get into Christmas trees and I'm fighting the urge to buy a 6 foot pink tree. Maybe it's not very holiday-ish, but I'm a single woman and the window for having things completely my way is closing. One day I'm gonna have a manly husband who will probably not be thrilled with a pink tree and so I've got to take advantage of this girly time. Even as I write this, I keep glancing over at my mini pink tree and shoot, I'm just so happy to see it!

When I was living with Dushi we had a four foot tree and used all reds, whites and silvers to decorate it. I loved that tree and would come home from school, immediately turn the tree lights on and just stare at it. It glowed somehow and I still think about it.

We only get Christmas once a year and that's why I treasure it so much. The movies are fantastic, the music is uplifting, the smells are warming and the sights are magical. The entire season is a gift for me.

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