Often, in the short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m called upon by family members to help decorate their trees.
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Often, in the short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m called upon by family members to help decorate their trees. While I didn’t end up assisting in any evergreen adornments – aside from my own – this year, I do truly enjoy finding and hanging each ornament in its temporary holiday home.
In years past, I’ve helped my parents, grandparents and great-grandmother decorate their trees, and I never get tired of it. Admittedly, having control over the placement of objects in order to create something aesthetically pleasing feeds my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, but it’s also a treat to reunite with symbols of Christmases past and adds to the nostalgia and sentimentality of the season.
When I was in elementary school, it was a yearly tradition to make ornaments ahead of Christmas break. Over the years, mice snacked on various candy cane, popcorn and dog treat creations I’d made, but a few Milk Bone reindeer and pipe cleaner critters survived and proudly hang with red noses and googly eyes as a reminder of how uncrafty I’ve always been. I can still feel the glue gun burns when I look at their lopsided features on my parents’ tree.
There are also little, Christmas-themed picture frames with photos of my brother and I when we were small, and a metal teddy bear with a drum and engraving on the back from one of my best friends growing up.