It's beginning to look like Christmas!

Rebecca and Rick came over tonight to help us decorate. Fred and Rick put the evergreen bows and pinecones on top of the buffet, bookcases, and armoire while Rebecca and I decorated the downstairs trees. We have the tall one in the living room and a little feather tree on top of the treadle machine. That's all we got done tonight before time for bed - the rest will get done over the next couple afternoons and evenings.

Fall is my favorite season, but I love Christmas more than any other time of year. I have so many wonderful Christmas memories that I'll share in the coming days, and we make new memories every year. It's a season so full of love and joy and giving. Just decorating the tree brings back wonderful memories. There are the colored glass balls - now faded and splotchy - that Fred and I bought for half price the day after Christmas the first year we were married. That was Christmas 1969. The smaller balls - a dozen in a box marked $2.50 that we got for $1.25. The larger ones were marked $3.00 a box and went for $1.50. There are ornaments from years of Tangled Threads ornament exchanges. Ornaments the kids made growing up. Ornaments I've made over the years - some from cloth and some from other materials. There are the styrofoam balls covered with sequins and beads. The beads are lined up in order on straight pins with a sequin on the base and then pushed into the styrofoam. I made a bunch of them the second year we were married - I ordered the kits from the Lee Wards catalog. Does anyone remember that catalog? I used to get both it and Herrshners - and I'd drool over the needlework projecs in them both. Then there are ornaments from piano students and students from when I was a teacher. Ornaments made at various church functions. Ornaments I've collected on vacations. We have a very eclectic tree - nothing fancy about it. Just covered heavily with ornaments we love that bring back wonderful memories.

Still to come are the garlands on the stairs, around the front window and the archway into the dining room. Christmas dishes on the buffet, Christmas dolls around the room, candles and other things for around the house that bring back wonderful memories. Then comes the best part of all - getting up at 5:00 a.m., turning on the inside and outside lights, and snuggling down on the couch with a hot cup of tea just to gaze at the lights and revel in the joy and wonder of the season.

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Gratitudes:

1. Papa Murphy's pizza - traditional tree decorating dinner
2. A tall husband
3. Christmas trees with "built in" lights
4. Christmas lights everywhere - one of my favorite things
5. Wonderful memories of Christmas past

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