decorating for christmas

That's a picture of  Kirsten and Little Jay. 

 

A couple years ago we gave up going to the tree farm and just buy a tree at the nursery instead.  It helps simplify and streamline.   They have nice trees, five minutes from home.

 Thanksgiving had to go away:

 Then we got to work on the Christmas Village.

 They decorated the hibiscus.

 This is blurry, but it's a little kid favorite, the swinging animals. 

Tim was all about these candle lights in the window.  I don't know why this mattered to him the most, but it did.

Julia was excited about these guys, and this is the thing I noticed tonight:  My family is so growing up.  I don't have babies anymore, or even little children.  It's quiet around here most days.

And I observed that all this Christmas crap is just that, trinkets and crap, but it apparently links us to something more, some kind of shared history and affection and fun.

An inflatable Santa from Walmart, a fancy, expensive nativity scene from the 70s, flimsy nutcrackers that have never cracked a nut, two dollar window candle lights, and what does any of it even mean?

I don't know. Symbols of something bigger, I think.  It has to be that, like how Jay and I are each fond of our own mother's Christmas trinkets.

Here we are heading into December, and hoping the final month of 2014 is wonderful.  Always love.    love, Val