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The Present Tree |
The house is quiet. No television. No music.
The children are asleep. It’s
also dark. No night lights. No bathroom light to keep you from stubbing
your toes during those midnight wanderings.
All of the lights, that is, except one.
Well, more than one, really. But,
they’re all in one place, wrapped around a tree. Our Christmas tree.
Last night all of the kids
decorated it as part of our annual tree trimming party. Another holiday tradition. One of the rules is that however the children
hang the ornaments that is where they remain until we take the tree down on New
Year’s Day. There’s no shuffling, no
straightening, and, at times, it drives the girls’ sense of order off just a
bit. We instituted the “Pretty Tree” for
that very reason about five years ago.
This tree, the “Present Tree,” is for the children. And me.
I watched them put those
ornaments on the tree. Some were rushed,
so the little hands with excited fingers could hurry back for another
decoration. It was almost as if they
were having a contest to see who can put up the most of the odd Assortment of
figures and globes.