When we moved into our new house, I was concerned about how we would decorate for Christmas. I'd spent my adult years as an apartment dweller, and Julio never had done much to decorate his own small abodes. So we weren't overflowing with decorations in the first place, and what little we did have looked chincy in our considerably larger and lovelier new home. - Not to mention the fact that, when he was about 4, Harrison had done an acrobatic leap from the arm of the sofa to the center of the sofa, catapulting himself from there directly into the Christmas tree (you know how this looked if you've seen "Elf" starring Will Farrell). From that point forward, we had to lean the tree in a corner or it wouldn't stand on its own.
Julio & I decided that our first Christmas gift to each other in our new home would be specially selected Christmas decorations. We planned and shopped, "designed" and shopped, and spent more than I thought we would, but I was happy with the results. About the same time, Mom and Dad down-/up-graded from their big lush artificial tree to one that was smaller but pre-lit and easily assembled and easier to store. We had room to store their big one, and it was the perfect size for our vaulted-ceiling living room. My friend Sandy, hearing that my original (and much smaller and cheaper) tree was broken, gave us a similar (nicer and not broken) tree she used at work before moving to Singapore. Then at an after-Christmas sale last year, I found replacement parts for the broken tree for only a couple dollars. Add to these three trees the small kid's tree I got for Harrison's room about 8 years ago, and we now have 4 Christmas trees. That may seem excessive to most sane Christians, but they've all become indispensable for us.
The large beautiful tree is a critical centerpiece for our main living room. It holds our "best brand new" ornaments that we got when we moved here, and whenever we are able to assemble the largest possible group of Harms family members, we hang memorial bows on it, in a tradition started by Nana after Opa passed away.
The small kid's tree is the only one with the old-fashioned multi-colored lights, and the home-made, fun and funky ornaments that remind me of my childhood.
The tree Sandy gave us now stands on the upper level landing. It is decorated in purple and silver, with angel ornaments. On Christmas Eve, Mom and Dad join us and we each add an angel ornament that used to belong to Nana, in honor of Nana and all of our loved ones who are no longer with us (like the Bows on the red-decorated tree, except we do this every Christmas Eve, with whoever is there with us that evening).
In our living room by the bay window, we have what has been dubbed "the Bobbi tree". It is ornamented in silver, white and gold, with collars Bobbi kept from all her pets, and handmade ornaments crafted from a bunch of pet tags (rabies vaccination tags, etc.) she also kept. The finishing touch on this tree are ornaments Mom made: small framed photos of all the family pets. A framed picture of Bobbi hangs near the tree top, as if she is looking out for all her "critters" and the rest of us who always depended on her.
We are not quite finished with our decorating, but we do have all four trees assembled, and the Bobbi tree is pretty well decorated. The next few posts will include more pictures as our progress continues.
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