I know it’s time
for my Christmas tree to go, but I enjoy seeing it lit up with colored lights.
The Scotch pine needles are starting to fall off.
Just like my
sisters I wanted a real Christmas tree. So I had Jacob, my grandson, take me to
the Christmas tree farm where I’ve been getting my trees the last few years. He
has a pickup truck so it is easy to bring it to my house. He brought it in and
put it in the tree container. Last year Jacob and his sister helped me decorate
the tree, but this year he had somewhere else to go so I decorated it myself. I
also put up a small fake tree in the library, too, in front of the large window
in there.
There’s always so
much that’s needed to be done before Christmas. Shopping for gifts and wrapping
them. Wrapping up grab bag gifts and preparing a Christmas meal.
This year my
California daughter, Mary, came home and spent most of her time cleaning my
house and getting it ready for company.
On Christmas Eve
my sister Suzanne always has her sisters and brother and their kids at her
house. I always take simple gifts for the nieces and nephews, bags with socks
and gloves in them and if they have young children which most of them do, I put
little toys in the bag, too. That evening we exchange gifts with each other.
This year my daughter Susan went with me instead of Mary. She was too tired
from cleaning.
My son who lives
next door, if you count my barn and pony pasture between us, and his children and
grandchildren came to my house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when my
brother Phil and sister Suzanne visited. We exchanged some gifts because my
daughter Susan and her husband Mike came over with their two children Jacob and
Emilie.
I’m not the only
one who wraps up grab bag gifts for Christmas Day. After the large bag with
mixed grab bag gifts has been passed around and everyone opened gifts, we start
to trade off what we don’t want for something else. It’s nothing very expensive
and usually what we find in our junk drawers. There are some nice things, too.
The grab bag gifts dates back to when we were children and my father, who was a
purchasing agent, received one. So we started creating our own grab bag gifts.
Before Christmas
I went to a concert that featured a fantastic singer named Andy Cooney. He has
the most beautiful tenor voice and encouraged us to sing along with him. I
bought four of his CDs. One was of the Christmas songs so I played that a lot
before Christmas. According to his bio that we received he has won all sorts of
awards. He is an Irish Tenor and sings mostly Irish songs. His grandfather was
from Ireland and he visits Ireland a lot.
Now that Mary
flew back to California, Susan comes over to help me with things like putting
my checkbook information online now. Of course, I still write checks and mail
them out to pay my bills. Mostly I sit
in my nesting chair reading the newspaper or reading a book and looking at my
tree that I know will have to go soon.
How was your
Christmas? What did you enjoy most about it?
Glad you had an enjoyable holiday, Gloria. Your name is so appropriate for the Christmas season.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have been taking the Christmas decorations down and boxing them up. Every year I say I am going to put up less, but so much of it has sentimental value, so it is hard eliminating some of it. Now that it's down, the house looks so bare. It sure would help perk up overcast winter days if we had at least some of the decorations up longer. Oh, well. Back to normal.
Grace, I have two fake amaryllis plants on the mantel which I leave up till Valentine's day. In addition to a large pot of paperwhite narcissus on the kitchen counter, I buy small pots of forced bulbs to take the curse off the winter bare inside and the view through the windows.
ReplyDeleteGloria, glad you had a great Christmas!
We had family together at Christmas, which is the highlight of the season for me,
ReplyDeleteWe didn't do a tree this year, and probably won't until we leave Florida. The heat and the humidity are unkind to the trees.
ReplyDeleteThat said, our tradition was to leave trees up until January 6th. The Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. Having a French background we also got presents on that day, usually fruit left in a sock on the end of our bed and a small remembrance from our parents. We'd have a pastry breakfast, go to Church and then take down the tree. Since I was in a parochial school with French traditions, we usually had the day off.