Christmas Trees

Well, I got my tree up yesterday. I started thinking about trees through the years. It's one thing we've always had ever since I can remember - putting up a tree at Christmas. Even when I was in the hospital for about 3 weeks and came home Christmas Eve, there was a tree. I can't remember how it got up or who decorated it but I do remember wrapping presents and putting them underneath it. I remember heading out to buy a tree and even when my husband and son would go out and cut down our tree. Then there was the time our decorated tree fell down - my husband was out of town and I asked a girl across the street to babysit for awhile, that night it happened! When we made the move to an artificial tree, it affected us all differently. Some took it harder than others, but me, I was empowered. Being able to put up a tree whenever I wanted and not having to string lights on it changed my life. The year I had my accident the tree also went up even though it only had a few ornaments on it. Last year some of the lights didn't work on the tree and thoughts raced through my head that it could be the last year for it, but this year everything works fine. Go figure! When I was young we always had a real tree and I remember my father trimming the bottom and fitting it in this old metal tree stand with wedges of wood. One year while trying to straighten it out he cracked the top third of the tree - that was the best tree we ever had, we all said. I still have some of the Christmas ornaments from then - the balls. I still prefer putting up all my ornaments that have meaning for me whether it was something the kids made, something given to me or just something I found and bought for myself. Putting up a tree will always have those memories for me.