Christmas Tree Decor

Last year as I packed away the Christmas decorations, I sorted through the conglomeration of Christmas tree items. What a mess! Over the years I have accumulated a hodge podge of various things and there seems no connection between one item and the next. As each son has moved out, they have taken the decorations they wanted, little things that had significance for them. I am left with an strange assortment of stuff that no longer looks good thrown together on a tree.



So I selected everything that was cracked, broken, mismatched or ugly and found them a new home (some of them in the trash). Then I identified stuff that just wasn't my taste and passed them on to others. The bin seemed much lighter but more harmonious when I packed it away last January.

So much for the getting rid of stuff. For the last few months, I have been keeping my eyes peeled for ornaments that I like. At first, I thought to limit the tree ornaments to a few categories that fit a theme. So if all my ornaments have something to do with the nativity, I would have stars, sheep, animals, little nativity sets, angels and the like.

I have a nice collection of musical ornaments each with a perky red or Christmas plaid bow and sometimes a swatch of pinecones or holly berries. I like them a lot and I love music. Add that to my list.

Then there are the beautiful round glass ornaments in appropriate Christmas colors (purple and peach? really?). Many of them have glittery gold designs, very festive. And I have a handful of glass ornaments that are shaped like a bird or an old fashioned spire. Keepers.

Armed with a sense of what my tastes run, I have collected over the past months here and there some new stars and angels. Some are Jim Shore ornaments that were on ridiculous sale, others are bent silver angels made in third world countries, a few crosses that Kiel gave me of gold ceramic.

They now hang together with the old well-sorted ornaments. I stand back and admire the colors, the shimmer, the light. It almost recaptures for me the magic I felt as a child, waking on Christmas morning to the sparkle of a tree not only newly decorated, but packed with presents. Oh, joy!

I know my tree will not be packed with presents, but our house is packed with love and peace, rare commodities these days, and ones for which I am tremendously grateful.