I love Christmas.  I love the lights, the festivities but most of all I love the Christmas Trees. I have a major fault when it comes to Christmas. I tend to get bananas over the tree. We go out in the woods and search for that perfect tree, no matter what the weather. We mock the families that go out in July, when it is warm and beautiful and stake their claim on their family tree. (weenies) We carry our old saw and trek over stumps and thru mud in search of that perfect one.  The kids are big enough now they help cut them down and shout out the traditional T-I-M-B-E-R!
Over the years, we have had many a perfect “ones”.  We had a tree so large that it took four  fifty-pound bags of salt to hold the tree stand down so it would not tip over! It had 1000 white lights on it.  We used my old crutches to hand off the leads of lights from one ladder to the other. It was spectacular.  We have had a tree so fat that that with three of us standing around it with our arms outstretched, our hands did not touch! You could not sit in the room and talk with someone else because its girth was blinding!
This year we  have a tree in the family room that is 14 feet high; in the living room the tree is 10 feet high; a “kitchen tree” with kitchen type ornaments in the kitchen, and  a ‘family tree’ in the basement with ornaments that reflect the kids interests and hobbies as well as pictures of them throughout the years.
When the kids were about 2 years old, I started a tradition of the elves coming to visit at night.  We put a tree in each of their rooms and at night sporadically from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, the elves would leave an ornament under their tree. It was fun and to see them so excited in the morning with the treasures from the night visitors.  They are older now and I still do it, although the gusto in their voices chanting “the elves came” is not as strong as it once was.  I hope that one day they pick up our tradition of the elves as they enjoy their own children at Christmas.
Christmas is great and we should remember the reason we celebrate this holiday. Sometimes we get lost in the hoop-la. Just keep your family in your hearts and close to you and the rest will all fall into place.