Yesterday, I shared a blog I wrote last year for BFF. In the blog, I told all about hubby and my 1st Christmas in 1971. Today, I want to share my current Christmas with my friends.
For our 1st Christmas in 1971, I went to the local Army & Navy store and purchased a small artificial tree and some really cheap ornaments and other decorations. I also shared how I “hid” a new color TV under the tree and how my husband couldn’t find his present “under the tree”. What a fun Christmas memory to have for our 1st Christmas!
I have not decorated for Christmas nor put up a tree for the past seven years. Having decided so long ago that I hated how commercial Christmas had become, I simply stopped doing anything except for the annual cards to let family and friends know that I care about them. I boycott Wal-Mart annually from Thanksgiving until after New Year Day. The only evidence of Christmas in our house was the small nativity that I set up as a reminder of the real reason for the season.
This year, I decided to donate both of my artificial Christmas trees, ornaments, garland and any other Christmas decorations except for my nativity. So I went to the garage and hauled boxes off the shelf that had not been opened in 7 years. Oh my…there was that “old” smell that I can’t stand. I can’t tolerate that “old” odor. So, I quickly sorted things into two piles ~ one to give away and one to throw away.
While sorting, some items invoked special memories…like the small tree that I bought for our 1st Christmas and a shabby chic red metal star that graced our Christmas tree every year since my earliest childhood memories. The small tree had been replaced with a much larger, much nicer artificial tree a very long time ago and the star for a glitzy new star. But…I kept our first tree all these years. Nostalgia, I guess. I just never could bring myself to get rid of it. It is no more than a green wooden pole with holes to insert branches and a metal stand. The branches look like big green bottle brushes. There are large gaps between the branches… A sorry looking tree, indeed! However, when decorated with lights, ornaments, garland and icicles, it was pretty enough. In 1971, it was beautiful to me. Heck…even a Charlie Brown tree would have been beautiful in my eyes for that very special 1st Christmas.
When I took the tree off the shelf, I was planning to donate it to our church thrift shop. But, then I began remembering that first Christmas and how happy we were. (Not to say we are not happy now because we are blessed and very happy.) Suddenly, I knew that I just HAD to spend just one more Christmas with that old tree and, maybe, create just one more sweet memory for the old memory bank.
So, I sprayed the tree with a freshener and took it to the backyard for fresh air. Lovely….all odor is gone. Then, I went to the dollar store and bought some new ornaments, lights and garland. I have put that old tree up just one more time.
Anyone want to guess what is under the sheet this time? Hahaha
After Christmas, it all will go into a box for donation to the church thrift store…all of it…tree, new ornaments, lights and garland. I hope some young couple purchases the box for their first Christmas in 2011.
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