Decorating with Memories

Shortly after I moved into this house five years ago I spend a few days with my cousin who was very artistic and a wonderful decorator. While she had a lot of furniture and knick knacks around the house, it didn't look cluttered or "busy". How I wish I could achieve that look. Her sister once said that Rita could hang a branch on a wall and everyone would say it looked lovely, she would do the same thing and those same people would wonder what she was thinking. Art and decorating seemed to come naturally to Rita.

We were talking about Christmas and she suggested that that since I was starting new in a new house I should get a new tree and decorate in only two colors. That seemed like a great idea, so I went out and bought deep red and silver balls and ribbon for hanging. I mixed the red balls with silver ribbon and vice versa. I was really into this new look. I even bought candles and wreaths in this new color scheme.

Then it became time to set everything up. The candles came first, they looked great. Then I opened the boxes of my old ornaments. As I looked at them, the memories came flooding back. There were the plaster ornaments that the boys painted one year, the Hummel types that were a Christening give for my younger son, the ornaments my husband and I bought for our first Christmas, the ones my parents gave us for our first Christmas, even the ones that had hung on Christmas trees from my childhood. And all the other decorations and ornaments collected through the years.

How could I possibly leave all those memories packed away in a box for the sake of a fancy two-color schemed Christmas tree. I couldn't. I still have those red and silver balls and they are on my tree (and the ones in the bedrooms), but they share the space with all my memories of Christmas' and people gone by.

Here's my tree from last year.


It's not fancy, it's a hodge podge, but it's my hodge podge full of my memories.