Usually this bit of green tat is dragged out like a phoenix in the beginning of December but not this year. The two offspring who are normally responsible were not available until last Tuesday when they and a trio of cousins resurrected it on the patio and hosed it off for me. I swear it gives me hayfever all Christmas otherwise.
It also makes me all nostalgic. This tree was purchased for the princely sum of twenty dollars for the first Christmas of B1 and B2. It was a hasty purchase from the supermarket and has always been a bit bedraggled with a definite tendency to 'dress' to the left. That is, it leans dangerously. Extreme tree!
Then, every year, I spend time perusing the old decorations and reminding the children of the historical significance of each piece of schmaltz until I find myself alone with the untangling.
Even when it is up there is always tweaking to be done and the folded laundry lends a festive edge to our home regardless of the season. That's what I love about laundry. It makes no distinction and will clutter up any special occasion without bias. There are, of course, less domestica decorations to be admired and discussed.
This one is from a set of crystals from the Scottish nanna given when the first two were christened.
This delicious big glass blob was a post Christmas buy that reminded me of the old childhood baubles. The Ikea stripey garland is making its first appearance this year.
When B1 and B2 were in preschool we made clay hands of all the children and fired them for posterity. Since I was the one making them, I got all my (then) four to produce these mementos. This tiny hand belonged to Lala when she was four. They all like to hold them up every year to marvel at how their hands have grown.
This little clay angel came from the main square in Prague in 1996 and was one of our first joint bits of Christmas bling....
but this one was the real first for our family. It was given for our wedding and it has adorned the tree every year since.
