Last time I wrote about the trials and tribulations of getting a Christmas tree into the house. This is the first time we’re decorating for Christmas. This is for the benefit of our son as he was quite young last year. We want him to be able to identify that something special is going on by virtue of the decorations that, we hope, will occur year after year for the rest of his life with us during the holiday. My wife and I both remember these types of decorations being special memories with our own families.
To that end my wife purchased some stockings for our little family to hang above our fireplace. They are embroidered with our names and decorated with wintertime symbols. We also decorated the tree with the few ornaments we currently possess (I’m told they are accumulated over the years). My wife even created oragami ornaments out of the paper she intends to wrap our gifts with this year.
One of the most interesting decorations is the abstract art we have hanging over our fireplace (a central area of the holiday decorations). These abstract paintings have been in our possession ever since my wife (an artist) painted them several years ago. They are primarily red in color and are square in shape. This year my wife decided to “wrap” these paintings in gold bows. As such, they resemble three wrapped gifts as they hang over our fireplace and above the stockings dangling from the mantle.
Along with the tree our home is beginning to look a great deal like Christmas. This is fortunate as we have truly enjoyed putting them up together, looking at them each morning, and remembering how important it is for us to enjoy each other’s company as a family. If you read this blog often it is full of trials and tribulations as well as joys and laughter. This is the stuff of life. The Christmas season (and the accompanying decorations) serves as a gentle reminder of how fortunate we are to have one another.