If there was one thing that made me excited each Christmas growing up, it was the sight of my grandparents Christmas tree every year. We would celebrate with them on Christmas night, and even though I loved the other gatherings, it didn't really feel like Christmas until we would walk into their house and see that tree. We knew what the evening would consist of - lots of singing to the Brothers Four Christmas album, the delicious smell of bacon coming from the kitchen for our traditional German Christmas dinner, me getting to play Santa's elf and pass out presents, and finally going around the room one at a time to open our gifts. We would always all be rolling on the floor with laughter because my grandmother would get the presents confused (she'd get kind of hectic as Christmas got closer and stop putting tags on things), and not realize it until the recipient had opened the gift and had a very confused look on his or her face. There was such a feeling of love and being safe and warm at their house. Those were the most special evenings of our Christmas every year.
After my grandmother died, I decided to take the tree and start using it. It had held up really well for the 30+ years they had been using it. I also took her decorations, which consisted of my grandfathers homemade ornaments, apples, and lots of things Mamaw had received as presents through the years. I put small multicolored lights on it, just like she had. It made me feel like I was 8 years old and back at their house.
Now that I've put up the tree for 4 years, the cats have gotten the better of it. They have jumped on the lower limbs so many times that alot of them had a permanent bend to them, so much so that they wouldn't stay in the little holes on the tree post. I decided to keep the top half of the tree for either the front porch or Gabriel's room next year. But I threw the rest of it away this morning, with tears rolling down my face. I'm going to miss seeing it every year.
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