The Rose Garden: Haul Out the Holly

NOW it's time for Christmas. :o)

The Rose Family has finally decorated our first family tree. In fact, I've lived away from home for 11 years, and this is my first tree without my mother. What a strange thought. We had a certain set of "rules" when it came to tree trimming in my childhood home. Yes, they were rules we insisted on ourselves; I guess that'show traditions are formed. Here's generally how it went:

1. Purchase a live tree, usually from the parking lot of a furniture store or the equivalent. You couldn't cut a better one down yourself, anyway, and it's only 5 minutes from home. That way, if it doesn't QUITE fit atop the little Honda Civic, it's only a few miles.

2. Bring down the ornament boxes. Or bring up the ornament boxes, I can't remember. That was actually one of the best parts. See step 3.

3. Papa and Mom set up the tree in the metal stand, water it, arrange the skirt, and string the lights (always white) while the kids examine the boxes of ornaments we hadn't seen since last year--or longer, if some of the less attractive homemade ornaments had "accidentally" not made it onto the tree the previous year.

4. Be sure to have holiday music playing on the CD (or tape) player. Bonus points if you have hot chocolate, too. At least one year, we had live music on the piano.

5. Decorate the tree. Kids concentrate on the bottom, grownups on the top. Don't forget to hang ornaments on the BACK of the tree, too, because there are windows there. And yes, that's the best spot for the gigantic dough ornaments made in art class. Be sure to use a hook and not just the string on the ornament, and hang it far enough away from the end of the branch that it won't slide off.

6. Consider things like color, composition, balance (this sounds like the opening to "Sunday in the Park With George"--look it up). And if you don't get it right, don't worry, someone will rearrange it after you go to bed, anyway.

7. Add the tree topper. This should always be some kind of angel in a cone shape; never a star, and certainly never a lighted topper. Tacky.

So, now that I'm an adult, here's how my tree experience went:
We purchased a fake tree. Oops. But it looks real enough that I can tolerate it, AND it won't be a fire hazard when we leave town in a few days. It's gigantic: 4 whole feet tall. When I came downstairs on Saturday morning, my wonderful hubby had assembled the tree, plugged in the lights (let's hear it for pre-lit trees!), and added a few ornaments, at which point I almost panicked. Was he trying to decorate the tree during the day?! Heavens, no. Trees are decorated at night. As we added our meager collection of ornaments to our tiny tree, I caught myself correcting his placement:
"No, you have to use a hook."
"Why."
"Because that's how we do it."
"Um, okay."

We did enjoy ourselves, and I found myself rehashing the history of each ornament in my head. I think it's pretty neat that our ornaments are new enough that I can remember where each came from. (And, admittedly, I "adjusted" a few ornaments after B left the room.)

And we have no topper, and no skirt. I guess we've left room for improvement!