A Thousand Memories

Now that the Christmas season is upon us, I thought I'd share of couple of my favorite parts and traditions of the holidays with you over the next several weeks.

I'll begin today with our Christmas tree. We have two trees in our house. A real one downstairs that gets decorated in a somewhat fancy manner: white lights, gold ornaments, bows, and ribbons. But it's the one upstairs that's very special to us. I like to call it the tree of a thousand memories, as it holds recollections of two lifetimes on its branches.



This tree is decorated with colored lights and ornaments that we've gathered throughout the years, both from our childhoods and our life together. Whenever we travel to someplace new, instead of buying a T-shirt or a mug or some other souvenier, we buy a Christmas ornament. I label each with the date we visited that particular place, and then stow it safely away until it comes time to put up the tree.

Decorating this tree is truly a trip down memory lane each year as we pull all of the ornaments out of their boxes and remember the events they represent. By the time we're done, the tree is really more ornaments than branches. It's a chronicle of our lives, and I'll spend hours just sitting and gazing at it, looking at the ornaments over and over again, remembering and reliving. Even the tree itself is special, as it came from my family home while I was growing up.





So during this holiday season, I wish you the joy of remembering those special times, whatever they may be. And while you're cozied up to your own Christmas tree, curl up with my free read, Mistletoe and Folly, from the Wild Rose Press.

Until next time,

Happy Reading! (and Happy Remembering!)

Debra

www.debrastjohnromance.com