Christmas Tree memories

The Christmas Tree is up. It's the same artificial tree I've had since I was a kid. A beautiful 7.5 ft tree with a good shape. It's not prelit...I have to string the lights on it by hand each year. One string of white adjustable speed sparking ones, one solid green string and one solid blue strand. I have put other solid white lights on it in the past, but I'm going simple this year. I would love a real tree in our home, the smell of a fresh evergreen in amazing...but as a working mom, one more thing for me to take care of would not be good for my efforts to simplify. And, purchasing a new tree would not be frugal.
Ornaments are from our history together - and apart. Some are from childhood, some bring back memories of when we were first married, when our children were born or went to school. Some are hand made, some are very fragile. Some are earthy, wooden, made from pinecones. Some are delicate and lacey, and yet others are crystaline, shiny and breakable. Most are gold, silver, blue, purple, green...but some are red, and many have angels, Santas, little Irish images, some military and toy soldier references, cuddly teddy bears, and a few characters from tv when the kids were little. Heck, my kids are still little, but those days when they were in diapers feel so long ago.
In fact, we also have a ton of collectible Star Trek ornaments from Hallmark. They would bring in a good return on our investment if we chose to sell them, but we'll hang onto them for sentimental reasons. Some I gave to my husband when we were first married. Some came as gifts from other family. Funny...I banned them from the tree decor a couple of years ago as they basically took over the whole thing. Well, our son has found them to be quite interesting. Like putting toys on the tree. But, I found another way around it. We strung lights in his room, and attached the Star Trek ships - from Enterprise 1501A to a Romulan WarBird to Voyager, to a Klingon Bird of Prey. They light up in a dim glow in his room, and lull him to relax and dream. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to put up lights in his room and not in his big sister's room. So...I proceeded to find another string with working lights, and set them around the recessed ceiling in her room. What a fun time we're having this season.

Last year we didn't put up the tree, because we were packing up our apartment in hopes of closing on this house shortly after Christmas. I set up a simple nativity scene on a side table and we set our gifts under the nativity - like setting gifts before the feet of the King.
This is the first Christmas in our home, and it's so sweet. The kids are enjoying their home, and so are we. Making this house a home and remembering where we'Ive been and how far we've come has been humbling.
In so many instances, I don't ever feel like we deserve the imense goodness that has been poured out on us. Gratitude bubbles over.
Memories of the years gone by, of the life we've lived together, of the love we share now, all bring tears to my eyes. What a joyous gift this Christmas season - to be able to remember and be grateful.