One of my favorite Christmas traditions ever is decorating the Christmas tree. My dad and brothers put our artificial pre-lit tree up and my mom brings down all of the ornaments. We have at least four big cardboard boxes full of ornaments. I used to wonder how we ever fit so many on the tree, but every year we always do. There are so many different kinds that we have, too. There are ones that my brothers and I made in kindergarten that our mom has kept and proudly displayed on our tree. There are at least 10 or 20 Wizard of Oz, Barbie or Disney Princess themed ornaments that I have acquired in the past 19 years. My brothers have a collection of Star Wars ornaments and there are still many, many, many, many more that I cannot even name.
Our tree is not color-coded or that perfect Christmas tree in movies where all of the ornaments are the same, and there’s the right amount of tinsel and holly on the branches of the tree. No, our tree is a hodgepodge of all the ornaments my mom has kept and collected over the years. However, each and every single ornament on the tree tells a different story.
When I was little, my parents would set everything up to decorate the tree and put on some sort of movie for us kids when we wanted to take a break or got bored (*cough cough* Jonathan *cough cough*). Sometimes I’d pick up a particular ornament and ask about it. My mom would just smile and tell me the story of the ornament—who she got it from, where she bought it, the Christmas she got it or the year she got it in. When she tells these stories, she brings these inanimate objects to life. It’s almost like Clara’s Nutcracker brought to life by a little bit of Christmas magic.
It can even be the simplest story that my brothers wanted to get my mom an ornament for Christmas, so they had our grandma take them shopping to find one and how she never suspected anything because it was not out of the ordinary for her to take my brothers out for a bit when my mom was taking care of me or my younger brother. Nevertheless, the story still holds some magic. Now every time I see that ornament with my two older brothers' smiling faces on it, I think of that story and how surprised my mom was.
My favorite ornament on the tree has two ice skaters reminiscent of Charles Dickens. The woman is blonde and dressed in pink, and the man wears a blue overcoat and brown top hat. It is my favorite ornament because I think it resembles my parents. The couple on the ornament looks so happy to be in each other’s company, and it reminds me of my parents. Every time I pull that ornament out of the box, I smile and search for the perfect place to display it.
Every ornament on our tree has a story, and their stories bring that little bit of Christmas magic that I need during the holiday season. Now that I am in college, Christmas is still exciting, but not as much as it was when I was five and six. Those stories remind me of the Christmases past and make me feel nostalgic, but those stories always invite a happy memory to my mind and a smile to my face. Now I can share these stories with my nephew because even though he is only a year old, those same stories will be passed down and spread the Christmas magic he may need some day. Merry Christmas!
