It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Last week I went and got our Christmas decorations out of storage. We haven’t put Christmas decorations up at our house since we moved here in 2007.  Scrooge? No. We just spent more time at Brian’s than at our house, all our presents were always opened at Brian’s, we always celebrated there, and thought we always would, so I never bothered to put out decorations.

Until this year.  I was kind of Leary about seeing them all over my house, sort of dreading the holidays this year, but also knowing since it won’t be with him, I better man up and learn to do Christmas at my own place.

I decided the girls are old enough this year they can go through all the boxes, (there were 6 without the tree, which we no longer have, and will have to buy) and put out what they wanted to, where they wanted to and just let it be.  One of the benefits of having older kids, they can do all the decorating. (and the taking down of said decorations).

The opened the box of all the tree ornaments and started going through it.  To me, it was like visiting old friends.  And I told the girls the stories of most of the ornaments as they pulled them out one by one.

Ian’s first Christmas ornament.  The year, 1993, he was 2 months old and didn’t know or care what Christmas was beyond a whole lot of strange people wanting to hold him and fawning over him and basically scaring him because none of them were Mommy.  I haven’t talked to my son in over a year and I cry over that fact weekly.  But I still have his first Christmas ornament and this year, and every year from here on after, I will hang it on my tree, until the day comes (and it will come I have to believe that) when I can give it to him to put on his own tree.

Along with his first ornament, is the ornament I made for him in 1995 when I was a single mom.  Just him and me, and I didn’t have a whole lot of money, but he needed an ornament for our tree.

This is Meredith’s first Christmas ornament. You can tell I am a finalist in the Mother-of-the-Year contest, as she is 14 and her ornament still does not have her picture in it. Also, this thing is so damn heavy it bends branches and rarely hangs on our tree.  Maybe when she has her first baby (god please let that be a bazillion years from now) she can use this ornament. Maybe trees will be stronger by then.

This little guy has seen some better days. Clearly.  This is mine from when I was growing up.  It’s a horse. Made of pom poms and felt.  And missing an eye and has a deformed ear. I apparently like handicapped deformed ornaments as you will see in a minute.  I remember hanging this on the tree every year.  He was one of a set (my brother got the other one (I think)) but I don’t remember what the other one was.  I just remember wanting to hang this one every year.

This is another one from my childhood.  It’s part of The Night Before Christmas series.  On the other side is the part of the poem that says “The Children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.”

Ah yes, another deformed handicapped ornament that needed love and a home.  I was in college when I got this one.  Mom and I were walking through one of those chain craft stores when we found the Christmas decorations.  At the time my mother had been buying us Hallmark ornaments, but that year as we walked through the ornaments, I saw this little guy.  Yes, he’s a purple mouse.  Yes he’s ugly.  And yes, he has only one foot.  And my mother tried, in vain, to convince me I didn’t want an ugly broken ornament for Christmas when clearly I could have a gorgeous Hallmark ornament to hang on my future tree.  And I couldn’t believe that she would be so cruel as to leave this poor deformed ornament on the shelf doomed to be put back in a box and shipped off to lord knows where because nobody wanted an ugly handicapped purple mouse.  I was saving his life.  My mother put up with a lot of shit from me. She still does.

2002 was The Year of the Snowman in my life.  I was working a national children’s book distribution company (think stupid school book orders and book fairs) and every year our department had a Secret Santa gift exchange.  2002 I put down I wanted “anything snowmen” because I have snowmen out the ass now.  Anyway, I got this ornament from well, from Ami.

And just because the girls think that in telling you the story behind this ornament I will be incredibly embarrassed (which just only goes to show they never read my blog, thank elmojumpingonapogostick) I am including this beauty.  The story behind it it really quite simple and another shining example of how I can improvise when I am drunk broke.   At the time I was working with a woman who sold Avon, on the side. Avon then wasn’t like Avon now, it was just in it’s infant stage when it came to clothing.  That year, Avon offered some sexy ooh-la-la kind of panties. In a plastic Christmas tree.  You know for those tacky single want to be romantics who think it would be uber awesome if they hung their girlfriend’s panties on the Christmas tree.  Or whatever.  So I bought them.  What? I’m sure I was either single, or had just started seeing the girls’ dad and you know I wanted to make an impression. Although what that impression was I’m not exactly sure.  Bought said panties, and had this empty Christmas tree ornament thingy and since I’m crafty and creative and awesome, I filled it with pot-pourri and bing bang boom, instant ‘80’s (even though it was the ‘90’s) Christmas ornament.

So those are some of the awesomeness that have hung on our trees in years past.  There was one year I did our tree in burgundy, gold, and silver glass bulbs, and burgundy bows and white lights. I’m not even sure we’ll have a tree this year, what with the destructive duo running around our house destroying everything in their path.  A Christmas tree would last approximately 3.9 seconds before they were up in it, and it was knocked over.

Next, I’ll show you some of my favorite decorations that have been set out around my house.  Hey wait! Where are you going?!?! Come back!!!!