Genevieve
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	The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam...

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Christmas Traditions
2001-12-21 - 3:40 p.m.

Okay, at least my family's traditions anyway...

The first and best tradition that we did for a long time was the big blue star. My dad and grandpa built this big wooden star, wired for the large colored lightbulbs. I have no idea how many of them, but it was huge, and heavy, and wired for light, no sound. Every year for a long time, my dad would climb this tall hardwood tree in our front yard and rig up a pulley system to mount this huge wooden star in the top of the tree. Every year, every night, we'd flip the switch for our star and have it lit all throughout the Christmas season, on past Epiphany. We never took down any decorations until after Epiphany, had to wait for the wisemen, dontcha know? So, that was the main trademark that our entire neighborhood knew, and looked forward to every holiday season. We'd usually light it with blue lightbulbs to make it look a little more like the star that announced Jesus's birth. It was so cool. Eventually my dad had to quit putting the star up in the tree after he hurt himself doing it two years in a row...

okay, so weird thing, as I am typing about my dad putting up the star, he calls me out of the blue. Ahhh, I love my Daddy...

So, as I was saying, he hurt himself putting the star up two years in a row, and thereafter, we just didn't do that part of Christmas. Dad just informed me that he gave the star to a neighbor friend of ours and he now has the star up in a tree in his yard, so the tradition continues for another family. :) That star, wow...

Another one of our traditions was to put up decorations after Thanksgiving and take them down after Epiphany, so they were up for a good month and a half or so. Really makes me feel like a slacker for not even having lights on the house yet. :( Every year we would bring down the huge ornament box and every year go through the ornaments and each kid got to hang the ornament with their name on it, and look at the year. Our grandmother had the habit of giving us new ornaments each year with our names and the year written on them somewhere. I kinda skipped that stage when I set up the tree this year. After college my mom gave me a box of my ornaments from the collection, so I have my very own. Actually, I didn't skip the step of looking longingly at each ornament and annoucing the date as I put it on the tree, I just did the loud part in my head. My favorite ornament of all time is 1979, a little embroidered horse looking over his back that I think she got in Hong Kong.

Each year we put up our two trees. We always had artificial trees, something about my Dad's and my allergies being a good reason to keep us away from live trees. I've never had a live tree, but always thought they smelled lovely. So we had a 6ft tree with the color coded branches that we set up in the living room so folks driving by could see it, and since we didn't use the formal living room much, there was less to move to set it up. Then we'd set up the little 3ft tree on a small table in the den/TV room so decorations were everywhere. We had an angel and a "star" that one would go on one tree and the other on the other, and we'd change it randomly each year. We had all sorts of crazy ornaments in addition to the ones Grandma would buy us, the tree was always a major hodge podge of stuff. Only after all the kids were away at Christmas when my mom and dad had to decorate without us did my mom start making the little tree themed, usually all the angel ornaments on that tree. :)

We had the tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve, either before or after the Christmas Eve service. When we were kids we'd go to the early evening service and then come home and open presents, but as we got older we'd open presents and then go to the candlelight service. As we were older it was whichever service my dad and mom would sing at in the choir. On Christmas morning, we'd get our stockings from "Santa" even when we were older. I think my mom sent me a stocking last year or the year before, or just the stocking stuffings. The stocking always held at least one orange, candy, and usually things like tosso cameras, or film for real cameras or chapstick, etc. My parents are so cool. Then we'd skip real breakfast in lieu of candy or our orange and sit down to watch Christmas movies on TV or football games or play with our toys. One of the funny things is that my mom made our stockings back when the entire family was on a western kick, so our stockings are cowboy boots. Jodi's was pink, Jinger's green, mine is pink and green. Yeah, I love being the middle child. :)

I'm gonna miss my family this year, but it'll be okay, I'm sure. Maybe one day I'll have a house big enough that they can all come up here to see me one Christmas. So, that is my nostalgic Christmas in a nutshell. I obviously did not decorate on Thanksgiving this year, it's a very small tree, although much easier to set up than the old artificial trees, and I'm still lacking a star or angel for the top of my tree, a bow will have to do for now. I will go home tonight and get those damn candles in the windows like I always had growing up, and see if Alan indulged me and put lights up outside the house. :) Still, it's not quite the stuff but the reason behind the season of love and joy and forgiveness and celebration and family and friends that makes this time of the year. Not the stuff. Although stuff never sucks.

Those of you coming over on sunday will get to see my pink and green stocking...

Now, onto a new Christmas tradition of mine... Elf Bowling!!!

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