This call rises up every year about this time. There seems to be this fear that if we don't run out and get a tree on the day after Thanksgiving, that somehow they'll all be gone. I slo-o-owly move into the Christmas season, motivated more by the actual presence of the holiday than the presence of Commercialism... which honestly just turns me off of being very holly or jolly. With 13 children, et al., it is far too easy to get hijacked by the monetary. So, my job, as mother of The Herd, is to direct and re-direct... just wish I could do a better job at it.
Then there are those sweet times, that soon become memories, when one or more of these children take on bringing the holidays home on their schedule. Sarah Joy is most often the one who does this. The first time I found her putting up the Christmas lights outside by herself, I believe she was 9. That girl was the definition of 'The Industrious Age'. Yes, the Golden Age of Childhood. What began as putting up Christmas lights, quickly morphed to finding the Christmas boxes and unloading them, usually when I was out to get the groceries or running errands. Good choice of timing. I'm not going to fuss at them when I come home to a beautifully cleaned (which they would also do) home that exhuded holiday cheer.
I was reminded of all this when I came across this picture today, of our first Christmas in our Darby Road home. I don't remember whose idea it was, but the little ones decided they would help find the perfect Christmas tree! Elijah was 6, and he found one in the yard, cut it down and brought it home! Next thing I know, Veronica & Christina brought one home too! Our Black Spruce here are scraggly trees. I don't know if there are enough ornaments and filler in the world to make them look like the Christmas trees we remember from our youth.
We did wait until the day before Christmas to get "the" tree... and there was little left, so we ended up with one with lots of personality!
Guess I oughta get a tree this weekend.
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