A Christmas to Remember

I was really in the holiday spirit this year. I have always liked the holidays but I do think sometime things get a bit overboard. So, I guess in response I have spent every year as an adult under doing Christmas or opting out for the most part. It always seemed like so much work and for the past 8 years Andre and I always went to family member's homes for the holidays, so why bother to decorate our place? Since he runs a ski area, it is a busy time of year for him, and we have lived in 6 homes together, so basically the ornaments and decorations I had were packed away who-knows-where? A friend of mine just commented that it was weird I even owned decorations since I never had a tree. She called me a "collector", lol. Well, that is nice and polite, I call myself a "pack rat". However, the only reason I had ornaments or decorations was because of my mother and grandmother. I have only ever purchased one ornament, when I lived in Maine. It is a lovely little santa with an owl. But, my mom bought me an ornament each year of my life, labeled them with the year, then gave them to me. For years I found the whole collection "hokey". This year, in our new home, I pulled out the ornaments and realized what a tremendous gift these ornaments are. A Christmas legacy. And since I have a child now, and am pregnant with another, traditions and legacies are on my mind. We bit the bullet this year, for ourselves, as much as for Quin, and we got a tree!! We went to the local Boy Scout hall, and $10 got ourselves a real Charlie Brown tree. It makes me smile. The one thing I didn't have was a tree stand, so Andre came home with the tree and the stand, which needed some cardboard tweeking in order to hold our little tree, and we set it up. Then, on Christmas Eve, after attending the staff dinner Andre held for his staff at Norquay, we decorated our tree. We had Christmas music one, a fire going, and the house just felt "right". This is what our Christmas Eve had been missing all these years. In Ottawa/Gatineau we had always spent Christmas Day with family, but since Andre needed to be close to Edelweiss Ski, our Christmas Eve's were lack lustre. Just like any other night. And I think it made both of us sad. NOT THIS YEAR! We pulled out the ornaments, helped Quin to hang them, found and put our our creche and decorations, and made the place festive. Right down to a little old fashioned-like bubble night light. Oh, I could not find our lights ANYWHERE, but thanks to serendipity, a woman I know from Freecycle listed two strands of purple Christmas lights, ON CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING!! We were headed to Canmore anyway, so Q & I picked them up, and the look perfect on our little tree. And, after opening a lovely homemade basket of goodies from our friend, Anni, we had tinsel to boot! She lined the bottom of a poinsetta print bowl with the metallic stuff that made of tree complete. The package also contained hard cider, and homemade creton, mango salsa, and apple butter! I think I might make a whole other post on this lovely gift... so back to the tree. I am proud of Andre and I for finally bringing holiday cheer to our home. While the tree had tipped over by Christmas morning, whoops, it was easily put upright, and it lifted our spirits... Our first grown up Christmas left us feeling like kids!