All That Remains

I took down my tree tonight. Olive has made it with clear that she is done with it all. Levi says he will be sad to see it gone; but there is next year, he says. All that remains in my living room of the decorations is the Christmas village, the manger scene, some mantle decorations and a basket of special tree ornaments.

I decided my seven foot tree is too big for my space, with our sectional. It made the living room just too cramped so I’m giving it to my sister for next year. Of course, I must include some decorations.

As I took apart the tree; I marveled aloud to Patrick: in a few years our tree will be covered with homemade ornaments and we won’t need generic store bought decorations.

There will be a time for fanciful decorations and pristine trees. For now, I think I’ll stick to decorations that remind me of yesteryear.

There are special trinkets that may seem silly; but mean so much. Like the salt dough ornaments the kids made in years past; or the photo ornament Mom (Jo) gave us our first Christmas together.

There’s a few fancier decorations that sweet friends have blessed me with over the years.

I simply adore our eclectic menagerie of decorations. It is a perfect reflection of our life and those that we value in it: Eclectic. A little Messy. A little less fancy. All of them have a special place. Maybe one day I’ll have a fancy tree. Or maybe I’ll always have this tree chalk full of sweet memories and less-than-fancy decorations. When all that remains is memories, I pray they evoke the warmth I feel when I look at my tree full of these.