One of the nights I look forward to every year

The fireplace is lit and crackling in the back ground. Hot cocoa is ready to consume. A box appears from the basement that doesn’t see the light of day but only twice a year. This box carries exciting cargo. This cargo is a 12 feet tall Christmas tree and Christmas lights. The seasonal music is turned up and the building begins.

                                                       

            First, the tree goes up; yet this is my least favorite part, it has to be done. Then, the branches are spread out to fill in holes that have formed from the tree being stuffed in a box for a year. Lights, lights and more lights are next. They can be found in any color you desire; however, we normally go with the old fashion clear lights that twinkle extra bright. Once they are on the tree and plugged in the scene starts to take shape

                                                      
        The only thing left, which is my favorite part, is the famous hanging of the ornaments. Every year my brother and I get a new ornament from our parents. We pick it out ourselves and write the date of which it was received on it for posterity sake. It is fun to look at the ornaments we have gotten from past Christmas seasons and remember what that particular year’s Christmas celebration was like. If you look at all my ornaments you would see that most of them are animals, geometric shapes with some sort of sparkles. And the normal round ball shaped ornaments that have writing of some sort or another on them. Along with the random ones that were thrown in here and there.
                                                      

            After the tree is up, lit, and decorated there is only one last thing my mom and I do together. We turn off all the house lights leaving on only the tree lights. With the fireplace still flickering we sit and look at the Christmas tree in all its awesome glory.


            After the Christmas excitement is over and the celebration seems to have passed too quickly, it is time to unravel all the time it took to make the beautiful centerpiece. It seems it comes down a lot faster than putting it up. It doesn’t take as much precision and patience. That box that brought so much joy to the living room reappears from the basement, but this time it brings a dreaded feeling. This is the second time it will see the light of day in a year’s time. All the ornaments come off with less thoughtfulness and are put back in the box they came from not one month before. The lights are pulled off, rolled up and thrown in the tree box. The remaining feelings are pushed aside as the tree is laid in the box. The last action to this process is for the box to return to the basement until it will bring joy in time for the next Christmas season.

Written by ~ Elizabeth Pape