Oh Christmas Tree

I get so much joy out of our Christmas tree each season, from the decorating of it to the nightly lit presence of it in our living room. Each and every ornament has sentimental value, especially the ones hand made by my daughter...there's the telescope-shaped one made out of felt that she made for her Dad when she was 4, and the mouse made out of acorn caps and a walnut half that she made in first grade. There's the snowman made out of the tongue depressor, and the reindeer made out of wooden beads and pompoms, with bent pipe cleaners for antlers. There are all of the ballet dancer ornaments we bought her during her many years of dance, and the annual polar bear/penguin ornaments that our dog, Ruby, buys for her "big sister". Then there are the Disney ornaments we happily picked out with each visit to Disney World, and my German ornaments I bought when I lived in Heidelberg at 19. Forty years later, I still carefully unpack them from their boxes and hang them on the tree with fondness. How could one not smile when looking at these precious things? And as I hang each ornament on the tree, the moments come back to me.

I know there are people who have "theme" trees each year, with every ornament carefully picked to coordinate with the color scheme. Everything is perfectly put together, and they are beautiful. Ours is eclectic and messy, with ornaments in various colors and states of beauty or disrepair. But what it lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for with love...precious trinkets of love, twinkling at me on a winter evening, reminding me to stop and take a breath while my heart overflows with memories. This is my submission for Photo Art Friday at Pixel Dust Photo Art.