The Lee Family: Decorating the Christmas Tree...finally

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Decorating the Christmas Tree...finally

So, we finally picked out our Christmas tree on Saturday and it was delivered by our local nursery on Sunday afternoon. Since it was so late into December, I was thinking of not having a Christmas tree this year, but CK suggested it on Saturday afternoon and we went ahead and bought it. I had grand plans to put the lights on it on Sunday afternoon and let the girls decorate it, but I didn't actually do that until Tuesday and Sofia and Olivia spent a while adding the ornaments. I love having a Christmas tree because it is such a great walk down memory lane. I literally have personalized ornaments that I made or were given to me from when I was a child and now have a number of ornaments made by Sofia and Olivia. I have an ornament each of my Mom and Dad with a list of the things they loved and I especially like taking these ornaments out of their box and hanging them on the tree so the girls can hear me tell stories of my parents. It's just a very special tradition for me and I love how much the girls enjoyed looking at and playing with the many ornaments I have. Of course, most are fragile, so I had to be sure to secure them to the branches and put most up high. The girls decorated a two foot section that wrapped around the tree and also spend some of the next afternoon adding ornaments while I filled in the gaps on either side of their section. I barely added half of the ornaments we have, but the tree looked good and I really wasn't wanting to make it overly decorated. Plus, it is so much easier to take down after Christmas.

I actually think I started decorating earlier than I ever have before when I took my Mom's Christmas village set down from the attic and set it up on our sideboard the week after Thanksgiving. Becky had sent me the village set a month before and I couldn't wait to set them out and bought a little strip of "snow" to complete the winter village look. I also added regular Christmas lights under the buildings so they light up at night and it is really my very Christmas decoration. My Mom had what I always called a "Christmas city" since she had so many Christmas village buildings, trains, figures, Christmas trees etc and would set them out every year. When I was in college she had an entire setting made for her villages that included different levels so they could all be displayed well. I used to joke with her that no matter what happened, I did not want to inherit any of her villages and it was a joke between us for years. Now that she's gone, I love having them so much and they are a beautiful reminder to past Christmas celebrations and many happy memories.

The week before the tree, I did go ahead and add the lit greenery to our mantels and greenery and the glass ornaments my Mom gave me from Italy to our light fixture above our casual dining table. I also decided to put the wreaths on our doors and the little lit trees out front, since we don't do Christmas lights on our house. It does add a little extra sparkle and I haven't set them out front for the past year or two, so figured they should be used. It all looked very cozy and Christmasy and then I remembered our stockings!! I keep them in a bag in a special spot of our closet since my Mom handmade CK's and Sofia's and they are very delicate. I took them down and hung them above our fireplace and our house is now ready for Christmas!

Mom's Christmas village - Love them!!