My Name was Supposed to be Elizabeth Ann

Decorating the tree has always been my favorite Christmas tradition. 

When I was a kid, we always bought our tree a few days before Christmas, at Robinson’s Market up the street from our house on Claster Boulevard, then placed it in a bucket with some water until Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve Day, our parents brought it inside and strung the lights, but we five overly excited children were only ever allowed to watch, not help, and Christmas morning when we awoke, the tree was fully lit and decorated, presents piled beneath its branches. 

Santa!! 

For the first two years of our marriage, Hubby and I lived in an apartment that forbade live trees, so I spent $4.00 to buy a two-foot artificial tree that moved with us to our first house, which we moved into, literally, on Christmas Eve Day. Most years after that, Hubby cut one from a tree farm near his parents’ home in northwest PA, when he traveled there for hunting season, one or both of our kids in tow. One year, we experienced our own Charlie Brown near-disaster. I don’t recall why, but his travel plans changed and we opted to get our tree from a nearby nursery. Three days before Christmas, we awakened to a carpet of needles and fallen ornaments. Even though I’d watered it faithfully, our tree had died seemingly overnight. The kids, four and six, were devastated. What would Santa do, without a tree?

So, of course I undecorated and vacuumed and we found another nursery and picked another tree and, after Hubby helped me restring the lights, the kiddos helped me redecorate, after which I re-redecorated their decorations. They tended, as kids do, to clump all their ornaments in one spot.

I miss Christmas, when they were little and still lived at home. When they were little, each claimed a side of the tree to decorate. His faced the front door, so that anyone visiting would see his ornaments first. Hers faced the living room, so that everyone seated around the tree or in the kitchen or walking through to the upstairs could see hers first. My side (a mix of my ornaments and Hubby’s) faced my spot on the couch where I drank my morning coffee, because that was the only side left besides the one facing the street which was–by default–the side that mattered least. Later, when we moved from that house to here, they continued to claim their same territory, until they grew up and moved out, and I sorted their ornaments into red and green totes so they could decorate their own trees in their own homes. 

Here are my three favorite ornaments, arranged oldest to youngest:

My kiddos made the top two when they were in kindergarten. My son-in-law made the bottom one, though when he cannot recall. All I know is that SOMEONE in his family intended to THROW IT OUT and I said, Don’t you dare.

I hang all three of them first, on ‘my’ side of the tree so I can see them each morning when I drink my coffee.  

See, it’s not merely the act of decorating a tree that I love, it’s the ornaments themselves, the stories of how they were made or acquired and the loved ones they call to mind. My mother-in-law used to gift her grandchildren a Hallmark ornament each year. My mom used to paint ornaments for my childhood tree, and I continued those traditions (somewhat modified) with my family. Each year I would stitch or paint the kids and Hubby a handmade ornament they picked out, or some years when life was just too, too jam-crammed crazy, we would go to the Hallmark store and select Keepsakes. Christmas Eve, after the kids hung their stockings, they could hang their ornaments then snuggle into their new Christmas pajamas to eat cookies and watch holiday movies and wait for Santa. 

We still do that, even now. Well, except for the Santa part. And the snuggling. I still make or buy everyone new ornaments, however, and I still give them pajamas each year.  Our son-in-law, too. 

Of course. 

Because the thing about traditions is that they aren’t immutable. They evolve, as families and circumstances change, which can be sad, I know, but also I think, enriching. A new source of joy, if you allow it. Our tree contains ornaments from before Hubby and I ever met, from before our children ever existed, and from now that we are empty-nesters. Each is a chapter in the story of the life we’ve built together, and each December I anticipate rereading them. Even the bittersweet ones, because they remind me to appreciate all of life’s moments and the people with whom I share them.  

How bare our tree–our lives–would be otherwise.

*****

A few more favorites…

My mom Helen painted this one for me when I was in high school. Dauphin also used to be home to a ceramics studio:

Mom painted this one, too, from a kit when I was in elementary school. It became mine after she passed.

Anthony made this for me when he was in preschool, and I still hang it on ‘his’ side of the tree.

In 2016, my father-in-law passed, and when Hubby brought my mother-in-law to our home for Christmas she gifted him some of her mother’s ornaments from Poland. The gold one pictured is one of them. It’s now super delicate and has lost its hook, and I’m unsure whether I’ll repair it or just display it. I’m awed by the years and miles it has travelled to us. The Santas, I painted.

A new tradition…helping Alexandria, Albert, and puppy Ezra pick their tree. Puppers is not quite sure what to make of all this hubbub.

Last year’s tree. This year’s is still a work in progress, but that’s another post, lol!

WHAT I’M READING NOW…

The Antidote by Karen Russell. Although I was not the reader for her first novel, Swamplandia, I love her short stories enough that I was more than willing to give her second novel a read. About 100 pages in and I am enthralled!

Side note, Vampires in the Lemon Grove is my favorite Russell collection, followed by Orange World.

WHAT I’M READING NEXT…

Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar because it’s the next book for one of my in-person book clubs. I am reeeally curious about this one, as you might be able to guess from its full title.

Also, something from my recent library haul…

RECENT READS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…

Blood Moon by Britney S. Lewis, a recent selection for another in-person book club. Vampires, werewolves, a missing mother and an angry daughter. Oh, and an enemies to (maybe) lovers plot. Lots to like, but I just … didn’t. No matter how much I wanted to, I just could not suspend my disbelief enough. With apologies, dear author, but I am not the reader for this book.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. I expected this one to be a bit weirder than it was, considering one of the characters communicates with the dead. A terrific read, about the weight and cost of secrets kept, and the inevitability of disaster when they are at last revealed.

The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee. Such a delight, hearing once more from one of my all-time favorite writers! Speaking of Christmas trees, “Christmas to Me” recalls the best present Lee ever received, when friends Michael and Joy Brown hung a letter to their ‘Nelle’ on their tree. “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas,” it read. Can you guess what she devoted her year to writing?

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. This book is girl power on magical steroids. A bit overwrought at times and not entirely credible, but I did not care. I thought it a wickedly fun read. 

Slavery, Friends, and Freedom in Bucks County by Patricia L. Mervine and Joseph Coleman. I picked this one up on a whim at one of my new favorite indie bookshops, a few days after a friend and I were discussing how we’d recently learned some of our favorite places had ties to the Underground Railroad. It took me forever to read, and nearly a full pad of post-its, because I kept stopping to look up places referenced and whether I could visit them, whether they even still exist. Now, you may not be interested in this particular region’s history, but I highly recommend delving into your own region’s stories to understand not merely what happened long ago but how what happened long ago shapes what’s happening right now. After all, our history does not occur in a bubble any more than our present does. I found this book, quite frankly, transformative.

So Far Gone by Jess Walter. This one hit a little too close to home, considering our current political and cultural divide. It’s always the children who suffer most from their adults’ mistakes, isn’t it? This is a “madcap journey” as the book’s blurb asserts, but it’s also a serious take on that divide’s toxicity. I appreciated the nuance, even if it was, at times, a bit preachy.

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter. I started watching the Will Trent series before I learned he originated in a book series, which of course I had to read. One of them at least, After That Night. Both were well-done within their genre, and I get why her books are so popular. I’ll probably read more, eventually. In moderation. They were both a bit too dark for my liking.

WHAT I RECENTLY ADDED TO MY TBR SHELF…

The first and last books have been on my Want to Read list for months! The middle three were impulse buys to support some of my favorite local indies, Fable Tree Bookshop in Titusville, PA, and Commonplace Reader in Yardley, PA.

And …

Funny story about The Everlasting, which I’ll share next month.

COMING UP NEXT ON MY NAME WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ELIZABETH ANN…

I’m working on a new look for my website, which has remained the same since 2019 when I introduced it.

And speaking of Christmas, look for January’s post a week later. My sister and her family will be visiting over the holidays, and my daughter (a nurse at a Philly hospital) has to work Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. Twelve hour shifts each day, which is typical for hospital staffing. Remember that, please, and be kind if/when you or a loved one is hospitalized. Nursing is a ridiculously overworked and underappreciated profession and we should be more grateful to those in the field.

All of which is to say, I plan to enjoy my time with my loved ones, however the days unfold. I hope you’re able to do the same!!

Now You Tell Me…

What are some of your favorite traditions?

Thanks for reading! Thanks for sharing! And a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours 🎉