Tree UP!

Beautiful Decorations? :O)

We put the tree up today!!!!!! :O)

What F-U-N! The "Guys' Job" was to put the lights on the tree, but John decided after only five strings of lights that it had enough, and that I needed to do the rest myself if I wanted more. *pffft* So, I took over the rest. A good tree needs a gazillion lights! My mother would have been ashamed of me if I only had five strings of lights on my tree! lol!

I also put the garland on, but after that, the kids had free reign on add the ornaments. I handed the ornaments to the kids so they didn't completly have a frenzy, but they did great. Well, they "did great" and then they put about 100 more ornaments on it. So, the front of the tree is loaded, the back is bare, the sides are somewhere in between. The floor, I'm sure, will be strewn with ornaments in the morning after the slide off during the night. *grin* In other words, it is the Worlds Most Beautiful Tree! :O)

John made the hot chocolate, we had lots of cookies to snack on, and we piped Christmas music in from the boombox in the kitchen. It was a perfect day.

My mom would have been so proud. She was a Christmas tree nut. This was the first year that Mom's ornaments have been divided up among the seven of us kids (I'm the youngest of 7). My sister and I wrapped the ornaments up so they were undiscernable, and then later Dad and I put them in seven bags not knowing who got what. Dad then chose my bag for me.

I got just the right ones. Ones that weren't terribly "fancy" (I only got one Hallmark one, for instance), but I did get some of the down-homesy ones that *always* had to be on the tree. On a whim, my sister and I had wrapped a few of the plastic bulb-covers... plastic apples that go over the lights, and white doves... I was almost disappointed when I unwrapped one of each knowing how many "nice" ornaments Mom had in her stash, but once I got them on the tree, and they lit up so brightly, I knew they were just the perfect ones for me. I can't remember a year they weren't on Mom's tree, and seeing them shine really makes me smile remembering how much Mom loved them. I also got a few that I myself had given her. One was a goofy one that I bought her for the '84 Olympics. (The only Hallmark one that made it into my sack.) It was the year Mary Lou Retton got her "10" on the vault. I was so impressed as a 12-yr-old wanna-be gymnast, that for Mom's present that year, I got her a *really homely* ornament commemorating it. (And if you knew my mom, you'd know that the Olympics meant Not a Thing to her. The rest of my siblings probably would have raised their eyebrows and wondered what ever possessed her to buy it.)

All the way around, this year putting the tree up has been more special than last. Last year everyone was still settling in, learning English, getting into the groove, figuring out everyone's personalities, and really, still learning to love each other.

This year, they are comfortable to us, and we to them. It was just a lot less stressful, and more relaxing. We could just be "us" without being on high alert that one of them was going to go wild and start yanking things off the tree to toss around the room. I didn't have to watch who was doing what where. Not really sure how to explain it any better. This year, I could look around the room, sigh contentedly, and say, "Ah, what great kids. Aren't they doing a terrific job with the tree?" - and not worry so much that anyone would be pitching a fit, telling me "No!" or whatever. Our relationships have just matured, deepened, and we've just all become a part of eachother. Kinda like when you make soup... If you throw all the ingredients together, the flavor doesn't really blend until you let it simmer for a few hours. It still might be good soup if you eat it right away, but it just isn't the same. I expect that next year looking back, I'll say the the same thing about this year. Families just get sweeter as the years go by, right? :O)