Christmas tree memories

Taking down the Christmas tree is one of my least favorite things about the Christmas season. I love putting it up. The children are excited to help and it is a fun family night. It helps to build the excitement and anticipation of things to come. Taking it down, on the other hand, means that another Christmas season has come to an end. I am usually in the mood to organize our entire house and throw away half of what we own. I guess that spring cleaning fever hits me somewhere around December 31.

I was not planning to take down the tree today. My to do list was too long, and our house had that "day after vacation" look to it. I woke up to piles of suitcases, clothes and toys that needed to be put away. I told myself that my goal for the week was to have the house look a little neater when I went to bed than it had been when I got up that morning. But after looking at the tree for about the hundredth time this afternoon, I couldn't help it. It became an obsession to get the tree down. I come by it honestly. We left my mom's house on the 25th, and when we came back on the 26th, her tree was down. It must run in our family!

Bailey and Olivia helped me take the decorations, and we talked about the ornaments as I packed them away. The dreaded task became a bit of a walk down memory lane. My mom gives each one of the children an ornament in their stocking each year. She tries to pick one out that reflects an interest they have that year.

Isaac, being the oldest, had the most. Being the first born, he had several "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments from his baby showers. He also had some Tennessee Volunteer ornaments, given to him to make sure he knows who is favorite team is. I saw the little dog ornament from the year he was one. "Dog" was his first word. It brought back sweet memories of him standing at our front window watching the dogs across the street. There was a Veggie Tale ornament the next year, during his Veggie Tale obsession. The next year it was Thomas the Train. The Thomas ornaments are gone because he snuck them off the tree and played with them so many times they fell apart! The girls also each had several, mostly pink and sparkly. Bailey has a set of Barbie and a set of princesses. My favorite one of Olivia's is a pig. Last year, whenever you asked her what she wanted, she said a pink piggy! I love this tradition, and I know this ornament collection will be very valuable to each of my children someday!