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Good to See You Again
It’s the time of year when you get to reconnect
with loved ones—and I don’t necessarily mean Aunt Agnes and her reserve
of stories you may have heard once or twice before. I mean the ones that
were boxed up last January. Perhaps they come with a holiday fragrance,
such as cinnamon and cardamom from a scented candle. There are ornaments
you hung as a child and newer ones acquired from
trips. Each piece holds a memory that captures a time, place
and moment. Your Christmas decorations are valued members
of your home.
Holiday ornaments are the song-and-dance sequence in a
musical. They come alive with their flashy costumes, inviting
cheer and applause. They are not serious. They hold sentimental
value. They invite impracticality, however ethereal,
like wearing your Halloween costume to the office. As a girl, I
would have loved to have worn a Halloween, dance recital or
any costume on occasions other than the festivity they were
intended for. I always pestered Mom to retrieve the Christmas
decorations from the attic well before their stage call.
Yes, if I had my way, Christmas would be assembled after
Halloween and remain till Valentine’s Day.
Holiday decorating is as traditional as reading ’Twas the
Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. Dad made a few
trips up to the attic via an old ladder, reappearing in that
dark cutout with a Mayflower moving box that would be
delicately handed to my mother in an awkward exchange
with unorthodox uses of heads and shoulders to maneuver it.
Christmases have evolved. New family members and loved ones have
added their traditions. Some are from the next generation: little girls who
wish for an American Girl doll under the tree when I would have desired a
Madame Alexander. Many of the decorations of my girlhood have been
pared down to my first stocking and a crocheted ornament that belonged
to my grandmother. There are now glass orbs and a shiny mercury glass
ski gondola commemorating a trip I took last year. This ornament is so
special it remains on display while the others are boxed up till they are
called for again.
xo,
Jacqueline deMontravel Editor |
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