3 Trees

We have three trees this year (four if you count the miniature one in my front room). How did this happen?

When I was young my family traditionally had two trees each year. We always had one "fancy" Christmas tree in the living room which was decorated in red and white. Beads were hung with precision and glittering balls were placed with a patterned order. We made homemade gingerbread men which we strung with red yarn. The room smelled so good - a mix of spices and pine. Throughout the Christmas season we would inevitably hear thumps as the gingerbread men pulled free from the yarn and fell onto the train tracks of the electric Christmas train.

Our second tree was quite different. It was always in the family room. This one had multi-colored lights, our homemade ornaments, and all the ornaments we'd collected on vacations. It was an eclectic tree, at best. A tree of memories with no color scheme or aesthetic beauty. But it was my favorite. I used to sneak downstairs in my pajamas in the middle of the night. I'd keep all the other lights off and lay down near the tree to watch the colored patterns swirl on the walls and ceiling.

Since being married, we have only had one tree each Christmas. And it has always been a "fancy" tree, perfectly color-coordinated, and painstakingly decorated. This year, however, Madi insisted that we get a tree "just for the kids." We found a great artificial tree on sale at Target and a couple boxes of the new led multi-colored lights. That night I let the kids decorate the tree, with no direction or rules from me. They hung all their homemade ornaments and divided the extra ornaments equally between themselves. They laughed. They cooperated. They delighted. When it was finished they couldn't bring themselves to go to bed. So they gathered their pillows and blankets and camped out under the tree.

I sat next to them on the floor and let my own childhood memories flood back.

I have two beautiful trees this year - one all in red and gold in my front room, and one all in white in my family room. But the "kid's tree," tucked snuggly in the book nook between the kids' rooms is, by far, my favorite.