Merry Christmas -- Happy Holidays!

As a kid I could not wait to get all of the holiday decorations up. My sibs and I would beg Mom and Dad to put up our tree and decorate the house. I loved it!

Of course my participation in the entire process was minimal. All of us would pile into the car to pick a tree. After much debate Dad would buy one and he would load it onto the car. Once home, Dad would carry it into the house and spend what seemed like an eternity making sure it was straight in the tree stand. Some years were much more challenging than others.

Dad had the responsibility of carrying the boxes of ornaments and decorations up from the basement and he would string the lights. Finally, after all of that preparation, he would allow us kids to hang the ornaments. The entire time the tree was up, Dad would keep it watered and make sure it wasn't too dried out to turn on the lights. And those of you my age probably remember that those huge light bulbs would get really hot!

My Mom would take care of all of the other decorations and supervise the tree decorating by us kids.

After Christmas, it was the responsibility of my Dad to take the tree down. He was very methodical in how the ornaments would be put away and how the lights were wound, etc. Finally, with tons of needles falling to the floor, he would take a pair of garden shears and cut off every branch and shove them into trash bags before dragging the bare trunk to the street for trash pickup.

As us kids moved out, they would decorate less. After Dad was gone and Mom got older she would say she just was not interested in putting up a tree. I just didn't get it.

Until I had my own house.

The first couple of years we lived in our house, we had lights outside on every bush. The next decade, we would put a garland with lights on the post on our porch and a nice wreath on the door. Lately, we buy a wreath or a swag of evergreens for the door and we are done.

This year we did set up the Nativity scene (a must) and put up a tree. I decorated the fireplace mantle and at the last minute got out all of my Santas.

There is no garland on the banister. The ceramic yule log candle holder and the nutcrackers are all still in a box. The ceramic Christmas tree is somewhere in the basement, I don't know where, probably with the rest of the Christmas decorations we did not get out.

Dragging those boxes up from the basement is hard work. Getting everything out is time consuming. And putting it away! Ugh! Who wants to put everything away? (Especially outdoor lights that have to be taken down in the snow.)

Now I understand. I have officially turned into my Mom and Dad!
_________

Photo is of this year's entire outdoor decorations.