Christmas Magic - Less is More

I adore Christmas. I start getting excited about the holiday with the first really crisp fall day. Yet, here it is, the 11th of December and Chateau Bow is completely void of anything Christmas except for one advent wreath and three floral arrangements graciously given to my daughter and me by my loving husband.  Besides work, the poodles, the medical appointments, and JV basketball season, I've been working on a big photo project. As a bonus, I have been taking a very long stroll down memory lane, and I've had an epiphany of sorts.


In the seventies, Dad had a stand of pine trees at camp that he pruned into perfect cone shapes for our Christmas trees. Each year he would select one and cut it down, take it to the garage and flock it white. Mom would decorate it with white lights, olive green satin balls, and a really thick, gold rope garland. That's it. But the best part of all was the tree stand that would slowly turn the tree, rotating it in all of its sparkling glory in front of the living room picture window. People would stop their cars in front of our house to gaze upon it - probably trying to figure out how the tree could turn without tangling the lights, but I was convinced it was because it was the most beautiful tree in the world and they just had to stop and admire it.

I came across a picture of that tree. Seriously, it was lame by today's standards. It was less than five feet tall. (Mom would place the tree on our up-side-down hassock in a room with an 8-foot ceiling.) In comparison, I put up four trees, one is 12 feet tall, and each one is elaborately themed and boasts ornament collections gathered from all of the places we lived while my husband was in the military. I tell others that I'm concerned about the two dogs messing with the tree, but in reality, here I sit, stupefied into inactivity by the simplicity of that little white tree.

I'm not alone in reflecting on the value of a self-inflicted marathon of Christmas decorating. My friend also has a tradition of putting up four trees. She told her teenagers that this year she would put up as many trees as they would help decorate. I think she was shocked when they told her they wanted only one tree. (The one the presents go under!) So instead of the decorating frenzy, she is spending time with her kids, doing the activities that make the holiday special to them. She's gone to the Christmas Parade, and has taken her five year old riding in the car to see the neighborhood lights. She even paid her niece to wrap the presents for her this year and spent the afternoon helping with the giving tree project at her church.

The simplicity of Christmas Past is reflected in the resurgence of handmade crafts. I've been seeing folded magazine Christmas trees everywhere. My mom made these with me and my brother in his Cub Scout group back in the day. She liked Reader's Digest because it made short, squat trees. She would spray them green. Today Martha Stewart makes them gold. Directions are found in the link below.

http://www.marthastewart.com/269354/magazine-christmas-trees

Even the White House Green Room displayed them in 2010.  I found a great photo of the magazine trees from the White House on the December 29, 2010 post by Therese Jacinto Design Studio. theresejacintodesign.blogspot.com


Make them with your kids.  Bonding, recycling, and decorating all at one time.  What could be more delightful during the holidays?

If less is more, I wonder, how many traditions are too many.  To my new way of thinking, just because it was done last year doesn't make it a tradition.  So, as you prepare the trimmings, the treats, and the treasures, ask yourself "What is going to be important in the years to come?"  If the small white tree is what made Christmas special to me, it really didn't matter that Mom didn't make 13 kinds of Christmas cookies or that we ate a buffet instead of a formal Christmas dinner.  It's decided...I am putting up a single tree this year.