Christmas Preparations

Dithered around between real tree, fake tree, live tree, almost bought a 4' hot pink tree, maybe next year. I went home with a 4' fake green tree on sale.  I got out the boxes of decorations, enough a much bigger tree.  There are so many memories attached to those decorations.  There are two little paper mache dinosaurs, an orange one and a green one. One for each son when they first "discovered" dinosaurs. They are still big fans. There a four tiny sleds from Lillian Vernon with each one of our names on them and my collection of Christopher Radko glass ornaments.  A glass ball made out of St. Helen's ash purchased the Christmas after the old girl spewed ash all over us. A 100' feet of Life Saver-like plastic candy chain we got for nearly nothing at a whole-sale nursery supply place.  The boys were little and it took a lot of persuading that they REALLY couldn't eat them. Origami birds my father made. Ornaments the boys made. The nativity came from the Grotto gift store in Portland, Oregon a few years back.  Shelves with 100's of crèche on them.  All these years I thought they were made in Italy.  My grandgirl turned them over and announced, "Made in China." Ha, ha, what do I know? The priest tending the store had written the name of each of three Wisemen on the bottom labels so I would know who they were but I've never looked.

This well loved weathered angel tree topper came from Woolworth's for the first Christmas the boys' Dad and I celebrated in 1966. He was in school and we were broke. She's 50 years old next year. OMG! She's been on every tree ever since.  We looked at fancier many times but none of us could give her up.  She's been on little trees in apartments to 10' glittering firs when we lived in a huge 1903 house near Greenlake in Seattle. She has seen it all.

I still have to find a joke gift for a family dinner gift exchange tomorrow.  And because flooding north of us held up our mail for three days last week I am expecting an Amazon deluge tomorrow. I hope.  Is Amazon our substitute for the Sears Christmas catalog?  Miss seeing that, and the outrageous Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog too.