PROMPTLY WRITTEN
Traditions
Old and new
Traditions were on such a small scale when I was growing up, I didn’t really think of them as traditions so much as just something we did. I’ve come to realize traditions don’t have to be big to mean a lot to the people sharing special moments together and creating memories.
As for decorating, the Christmas tree went up sometime after Thanksgiving. My dad would pull all the boxes from the attic, set up the tree in the den, string the lights, and then I’d help my mother decorate. The decorating could take days. The tree was a sparkly number, complete with garland, tinsel, and bright, shiny ornaments, some of which I thought were so old-fashioned my mother must’ve had them when she was a kid — the kind with beads and sequins.
In addition to the tree, my mother would place her fluffy fake snow runner on top of the mantel and set her nativity scene on top of that.
Over the years, she started to collect every holiday stuffed animal that Hallmark put out. She still sets them up on a couch in the living room, and there are so many you can’t even sit down. She calls them her “critters.” I call it cringy, but that’s because it looks like clutter to me.
I’m very minimalistic when it comes to decorating.
