Once again this year Ben and I debated whether or not to go to the trouble of putting up the tree. We blew it off completely last year, as neither one of us was particularly in the holiday spirit for a variety of reasons. It's a little better this year, but based on the absolute lack of cards we've received it's not a sentiment shared by many of our friends. Either that or people just don't send holiday cards any more; a distinct possibility. (Even we cut our list way down this year.)
What pushed it over the edge for me this year was twofold. We were planning a last minute holiday potluck and you can't have a holiday gathering without a tree and I'd also purchased a TARDIS tree topper (which, as you ca see, is way too big for the size of our tree) and really didn't want it to just languish in its box for another year. Additionally, a friend of ours had given us a string of Weeping Angel lights last year that had never seen the light of day. So Friday evening I bit the bullet and hauled it all out.
While decorating the tree, I kept hearing my Mom's very disapproving voice playing in my head. Mom was, shall we say…meticulous…in the way she decorated a Christmas tree. (Dad usually handled the lights and Mom did everything else until my sister and I were old enough to take over those duties ourselves, and even then she wielded complete control over the process.) Certain ornaments had to go in certain locations, and the whole procedure of laying on the decorations was very methodical. If she were alive today she'd be aghast that I have large ornaments at the top of the tree and tiny ones at the base.
I think it turned out lovely, in any case. My only regret as an adult (holiday-wise at least) is that about ten years ago I gave my half of the family ornaments back to my sister, thinking at the time that I would never put up another tree. Yeah, now I wish I'd held onto them and I suppose I could ask for them back, but at the same time—with only a few exceptions—I don't remember exactly which ones were mine and I don't want to have to deal with the resulting drama from dividing them up again.
It's like the Doctor landed on planet of giants. The angels look pretty and give a glow of classic Xmas – unless you look close. Are you blinking?
Working in retail for over twenty years, most of them single. Except for the doggies and leaving town for actual big day, there were 2-3 yrs when I didn't decorate. Why bother, who would see and I'd been doing xmas since Labor Day.
I regretted or at least wished I had made the effort—for me! Not once did I even decorate and wish I hadn't. No matter how much I bitched while putting it up.
Glad you did it. Happy and Health to you and Ben and the little guys.