O Christmas Tree
I love the ritual of putting up the Christmas tree; from the 6 feet of plastic monstrosity that was the centre of my childhood Christmases, strewn with sourdough and papier-mâché creations brought home from school, to the gum trees chopped down and stood in a bucket of gravel, through to the petite potted conifers that survived, in succession, quite a few December heatwaves, and finally back to plastic with our tiny 80cm fibre-optic tree. Sure, there’s some tackiness – but what is the holiday season for, if not to stretch that tiny part of our souls that still wishes fervently we were in kindergarten, splashing pink and red paint on a cookie cutter Santa? The part that still secretly gets all happy when the first Christmas carols play in stores. The part that can’t resist brushing it’s fingers through a tinsel garland, no matter how chintzy.
That’s the part of me that I indulge when I put up the Christmas tree. Maybe it’s because I’m too exacting, or maybe it’s because the tiny tree doesn’t really leave enough room for more than one person to work on it, but for the last few years I’ve had the pleasure all to myself. I’m on holidays, so I have all day – I wait for the perfect mood to strike me, and pull out the boxes and bags of decorations. It’s all there – smooth, brightly coloured baubles. Tiny glass creations in orange and purple. The knitted balls Mum and I made last year. The delicate white tin scenes, wrapped up in tissue paper. And of course, the ubiquitous tinsel and strings of beads. There’s the tiny Christmas bear, the patchwork angel, the fresh wave of children-made decorations from my niblings. Some of the decorations never see the outside of the box, but every year when I pull the lid off, they make me smile quietly to myself.
Then the boxes are open – the strings and wires and tangly bits twist around my fingers, the glass is cool under my touch and the colours are laughing happily in front of my eyes. One by one, I choose the baubles, hang them from this branch (no, wait – that branch) and revel in the glittering, festive splendour of it. Is it any wonder that kids love putting up the Christmas Tree? In it there’s the promise of cheerfulness, laughter and a special day… and if you put your tree up on the first of December, there’s 25 whole days of anticipation ahead!
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Fabulous! Makes me want to go get stared on ours! Our tree (plastic) got a bit tatty and was thrown out a couple of years ago, and we never got around to getting a new one, so for the last few years we have taken to decorating our chimney! But now we have a new tree (even if it is only a tiny one) so we can do some ‘proper’ decorating. Great post, really brings back those memories (Even is some aren’t all that distant!
December 5th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I love putting up the Christmas tree, but alas ours isn’t up at home yet and it probably won’t be for another week (and then it will remain up until February). I remember a time when I’d excitedly pull out boxes on the first of December, stringing up the tinsel, lights and christmas balls oh it was such good fun. I’d also string decorations across the house and outside, yes I was definitely more into the spirit than the rest of the family, sometimes annoyingly so. Nice post.