Christmas trees

It used to be that every year after Thanksgiving, my dad would take all of us kids to go Christmas tree shopping. We had this tree farm that we went to most every year and we all got to help pick out the perfect tree. Then we would bring it home and the carpeted living room would soon be strewn with ornaments and tangled up lights that we inevitably had to untangle every year. Sometimes we put lights around one of the trees outside, but that didn't usually happen because we always ran out of lights. So we had Christmas. Presents and family -- the tree. But year by year our tree got smaller and smaller. Finally one Christmas we didn't get a tree. That's around the time we moved from North Carolina to California.

Our first Christmas here was a lot different. Lots more snow... bigger trees. The first few years we went up on the mountain with snowmobiles to get a tree. We had this make-shift sled to which we tied our Christmas tree for the ride back to the car behind one of the old machines that belong to one of my dad's friends. But the last few years we have gone shorter distances to get our tree. Probably because the sled isn't big enough to carry the trees we get now.

This year we have two trees -- because two is better than one. They or may not have come from the back yard. Standing at 6 ft tall, the little tree is brightening up the family room with all its colorful lights illuminating the serene gingerbread men and women suspended from its branches. The other tree might be the tallest one that we have had so far -- at 21 ft tall it is impressive to look at. We decorated it with white lights (of course we didn't have enough so we had to buy more) and golden, red, and silver ball ornaments. Oh, and before we stood it up my sister and I tied a lovely red bow on the tippy-top. It looks splendid.

And this year, we are having a solid Christmas. A white one for sure. Friends and family near. Firelight dancing around the room. A record playing old-fashioned Christmas music. My breath fogging up the window glass. Smell of cinnamon and spice. Stockings hung up. Presents underneath the tree -- the big one.

Peace and Love