Traditions of Christmas Past Meet Christmas Future



 This year marks the first year since 1985 that Dan & I have had the house pretty much to ourselves for a few days a week.  When our daughter was younger, we would have our family decorating party as we put up our Christmas trees and decorated for the season.  And yes, we are one of those who have artificial trees since we would always travel for family visits during Christmas breaks. 

 

So this year as semi-empty nesters, we looked forward to continuing our family tradition with our kids.   Here's a few pictures of our decorating this past weekend -- 'Joe wasn't able to get a weekend home-pass from the military post, but Jacqueline, Lucy & Tag were here to help us bring in the Christmas season ...

 

and so we decorated our Christmas tree with red, blue, yellow & green lights ...

glowing on limbs as keepsake ornaments were gently hung

{Lucy & Tag couldn't believe how "old" some of our ornaments are!} 

 

 

 

Dan had "requested" the needle-in-the-haystack this year ---

his multi-colored mini lights with multiple settings ... oh my! 

I hadn't shopped for multi-colored Christmas tree lights in the past ... hummmmmmmmm ... maybe 20 years!

Okay ... maybe I exaggerate a little ... maybe more like 17 years. 

So, anyway ... off I went -- Target, WalMart, Sam's, Home Depot, Garden Ridge ... no multi-colored, multiple setting Christmas tree lights! I was determined to find them for my husband ... normally in years past we would have our "main" tree in the family room

 {the 9 footer that served as the central decoration of Jacqueline's wedding Christmas Eve 2005}, 

and several trees throughout the house -- and only our "traditional" tree would have the multi-colored lights.  Well ... until the strand got so old that it basically became a fire-hazard.  And our main tree was retired after last Christmas with several areas of

light-outages.  So now Christmas decorating 2014 ...

 

 



These 2 little ones absolutely LOVE Grandad's chaser lights this year! And how they enjoyed picking the perfect spot for each ornament they placed on the tree.  They handled each keepsake with such delicate care ...

even Tag took gentle care with some of his Mommy's ornaments (such as the little swing he holds in the above picture). 

Lucy hung some of her Mommy's keepsakes and her grandparents' memories too.  Their little eyes lit up as bright as the strand of lights glowing on the tree.  They knew they held precious memories in their little hands ...

so they were ever-so gentle with our memory-making decorations ...

and I know they will pass these keepsakes to their future generations along with

family traditions & memories.

 

Yet there's something different about this Christmas season ...

we have Dan's chaser-multi-colored tree lights along with our memory ornaments ... 

 

 

from our first Christmas as husband & wife in 1984 --

  



 

 

and our daughter's first Christmas in 1986 --

 

 

 

and Lucy & Tag's first Christmas ornaments --

 

 

 

 

all of which bring our family to Christmas present --

 

 

So much more than ornaments ...

traditions of our family Christmas past

are handed down to our little Christmas futures

during each & every Christmas present ...

And now -- at this very moment ...

Granny needs to get ready for these little Christmas futures to arrive for the weekend ...

I'll post more pics & thoughts later ...

Hope your weekend will be as blessed as ours will this weekend!