 For Authors: December 17, 2014 Issue [#6722] |
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This week: Observations: Christmas Decorations & !! Edited by: Fyn  
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The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~~Burton Hillis
Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.~~Larry Wilde
I love Christmas, not just because of the presents but because of all the decorations and lights and the warmth of the season.~~Ashley Tisdale
By reshaping or decorating our outer selves, we express our inner sense of self: 'I like that' becomes 'I'm like that.'~~Virginia Postrel
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of
building enough bookshelves.~~Anna Quindlen
Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.~~ Peg Bracken.
Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’.~~ Bing Crosby |
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Our Christmas decorations go up Thanksgiving night. Happily, I have a very good excuse for diving in so early: Annual Christmas party is always the first Saturday in December. (Yes, it was planned that way!) I love this time of year and this way, I can enjoy the tree and the fuss all the longer. I spend hours decorating the tree and enjoy the process. Later, I make time just to sit and look at the tree, at all the ornaments on it, many of which were gifts. I think about the ornament, the person responsible for it being on the tree and the myriad memories associated with the giver. Pretty much takes a month to go through and give each ornament/person the time they deserve. So many are gone now...but the memories still warm.
That Saturday after Thanksgiving found us outside lining the edge of the roof with lights, the split rail fence with both lights and garland, several of the trees with both ornaments and lights. The end result was pretty both during the day and in the evening. Across the way diagonally they, too, were busy decorating. Their willow was weeping lights, as were the bushes, the roofline, their doorway and between their front windows. Blossoming out on the lawn were inflatable Santas, reindeer, snowmen, elves and ornaments all of which, at night, are lit from the inside and create a most colorful jumble of LED lights. During the day, however, deflated plastic slumps on their lawn like a rainbow of discarded condoms. NOT pretty.
The main drag of our tiny town has tree branches lined with twinkle lights that dance in the breeze. In the town square, massive pines are all lit up and Santa's Workshop beckons children to share their wishlists. All it needs is a light fall of snow to look perfect! Three streets down is lit up like Time's Square where each house seems to want to outdo their neighbors. Entire roofs are lined in cargo lights, pine is draped and candy canes dance to piped music. I wouldn't want to live there, but it is nice to walk down their street. It is a short block, which is goodness, because after a block of LED excess, your eyes start to swirl back in your head and colors rocket off the back of your skull. My favorite house is the old Victorian on the way out of town. White candle lights beam from every window, the pine wreath on the wide front door is elegant and their wrap-around front porch is decked out in garland and red velvet bows. It looks like a New England Christmas card and is absolutely stunning.
I love driving around seeing trees in front windows. It makes me feel happy. It makes me smile and even the worst day becomes brighter and lighter. Stress slides off and life is good. It seems the Christmas spirit pervades the air, people are nicer, more pleasant to be around. As if, perhaps, they believed inside their heart of hearts that Santa really was real and that we will all see that Christmas star. (I'm a firm believer in Santa because I remember (back from when I was four) seeing reindeer fly and no one will ever convince me I didn't!) Do I wish the feelings and actions would last all year long? Of course. I try my best.
Good years and bad, years where money is fine and years when money is nonexistent, it really doesn't matter...we always strive to make it the best we can and it always works out and we are happy campers! No Grinches allowed! No Scrooges to be found round here! I always feel bad for those who don't/can't/won't get into the season for whatever reason. For us it is a joy fix, a reaffirmation of all that is good and right with the world.
[I had to leave my newsletter to go out and meet with some clients. Stopped to do a little shopping. Christmas came early today. HAD to share this!]
Was in a store this afternoon looking for tags to match some paper I'd bought. Wandered down the aisle where myriads of ornaments were hanging or boxed in pretty displays. A woman was there with her three remarkably well behaved children piled in a cart. She kept adding up prices under her breath. The little girl pointed to a brightly blue and silver ornament. "No, sweetie," said Mom. "That one costs a lot and we could get a whole box for what that one ornament would cost."
The little girl sighed. "I wish that that mean old fire didn't eat them all," she said softly.
"Me, too," said mom.
A grandparent-aged couple went up to her and asked, "Did your family have a fire at your home?
As the mother nodded, the little girl said, "That mean old fire ate everything we had. Now we don't even have ormanents for the tree the Boy Scouts gave us." She slumped against her brother.
The older man looked at his wife and smiled. "Let us help." They proceeded to fill their cart with everything from lights to ornaments (including the blue and silver one) to the angel for on top. Then the grandmotherly lady asked the mom if Santa would be able to come this year. She shook her head, but answered, "He just did."
Well, that couple proceeded to ask mom to take the kids over to the toys and asked them what they'd ask Santa for. When the grandmother type lady and the mom went off to look at coats and jammies, the grandpa loaded another cart with every single thing the kids mentioned and headed to the checkout.
I was checking out when the mom and her kids went through in the next lane with the ornaments and a pile of stuff the grandmotherly lady 'said' was for her grandkids. As mom piled and car-seated the kids in the car, the grandparent-like angels filled her trunk. FULL. Then they walked to their car, got in and drove away. Mom finished buckling in the last kid to turn and watch them leave. She wasn't the only one with tears. Nope, no grinches around here!
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