Crunchy ‘Nanas

We got our Christmas tree last night. I abstained from insisting on the tallest available. It probably helped that I had just spent £32 on international postage for Christmas cards. But, I was a bit proud of myself none the less. So I “compromised” with a 6 footer. (I know, not much of a compromise, but it saved us £10, so that’s good.) It is short, but what it lacks in height it makes up in girth. It’s a bit wonky, but I love it!

Besides having beautiful greenery in the house, the Christmas tree brought a much needed surprise. We were unpacking the Christmas ornaments and we came across a cookie tin. Crunchy husband asked what was inside, and I said “ornaments, I guess” and continued with the box I was working on. When I got to the tin, I was a little confused as I had pretty much brought out all the ornaments – we don’t have very many. I opened it and was greeted with all the ornaments from my Grandma Alice. I forgot I brought them back to England after last Christmas at my parents’ house. I almost cried, but didn’t. (The season’s been a little touch and go already. 1 point for holding it together when Last Christmas came on the radio, but no points for falling apart while writing cards to my family.)

I looked at Crunchy husband and said, “these are very special, we have to be very careful.” He looked at me like “duh!” My Grandma died when I was 11, so he never got to meet her, but he knows our relationship was close.

We are remembering special people, as today would have been my mother-in-law’s birthday. This month was always going to be hard: first birthday, first Christmas and the anniversary of her death closely following, along with not being with my family and friends this Christmas. I didn’t realize it would, but having the tree has helped. I know it’s just a tree, but it makes me think of family. It makes me feel warmth and love. It’s beautiful. In its own short, wonky way.

This entry was posted on Thursday, 4th December 2008 at  18:40 and is filed under Family and friends. You can follow responses to this entry using the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.