There’s something about preparing for Christmas that brings back a flood of Christmas memories for me.
This year I downsized the decorations even more than last year. The reason for downsizing is mostly that I am the only one working on the decorating. And, I will be the one taking all the decorations down after Christmas. No sense working myself to tiredness on the project. I put up enough decorations to keep a festive atmosphere without having the decorating seem like a chore. It is a good balance of fun and work.
The Christmas cards are in the mail. I made them by recycling old cards and adding a few festive items from my craft stash. Each year I keep thinking I will perhaps make some rubber stamped cards. Then, I see my stack of cards to recycle and cut/paste takes over again
The gift tags I actually started last Christmas and ran out of time to put them to use. So here they are this year and not using them last year gave me a head start and less to prepare this year. I used rubber stamps for the musical background on the tags and bits of ephemera from the good old craft stash to finish them.
Our little tree is up and ready to host the presents. This time I remembered to use the bead garland before placing the ornaments on the branches. I noted at the start of this post, lots of Christmas memories were floating around in my head as I decorated the tree. One thought that has been in my head is how different each decorating session is from the previous year. For example, last year I did not know that it was my last year decorating with someone else.
I need to stop here and clarify that is it not meant as a negative or regretful thought. It’s a peaceful memory. A memory of life progressing as it should. It is a reminder to be in the current moment, the current activity because sometimes it is easy to forget how quickly the kids grow up. Then the grandkids are grown and ready to take on their own adventures. We get to enjoy their return visits to hear about their lives and to together share past Christmas memories that become more special in the retelling.
I love the holidays!