Long Days, Short Years

2014 - The Year of No Ornaments

Earlier this week, Lora and I did the final touches on decorating the Christmas tree. To be fair, Lora does the majority of the decorating of the tree - I basically help set the tree up and get it straight and make sure the angel on top is somewhat secured. Then Lora works her magic - with lights, ribbon, beautiful silver and red ornaments. At that point it’s a beautiful tree, but what finishes it off is what we do next — maybe my favorite part of preparing for Christmas.

We pull out four plastic boxes, each marked with one of our children’s name on it. In these boxes are ornaments that trigger a lifetime of memories with each child. There are ornaments that each child made in school or at church from popsicle sticks, macaroni noodles and cotton balls. Those are precious memories to think of their tiny fingers making a surprise for Mom and Dad.

There are also ornaments that I bought for them. One of our traditions was the giving of the annual Christmas ornaments to the kids—usually on Christmas Eve. Every year I’d go on a search to find an ornament that represented a highlight from that child’s year or something special that we experienced as a family. Some years were awesome. Some, not so much. Actually, one year I totally forgot the ornaments until Christmas Eve morning and created the same ornament for each child that was a simple Christmas frame with a design I created that said “2014: The Year of No Ornaments”.

1999 - Jacob’s Bob the Builder ornament

As we go through the boxes, I am reminded of Gretchen Rubin’s quote, The days are long, but the years are short. As I pick up Jacob’s Bob the Builder ornament it doesn’t feel like it was 20 years ago that we had his Bob the Builder birthday party in our garage because he loved building things. What a foreshadowing of who he has become as he runs his own remodeling company.

Each box is filled with memories - sports that they played, character being developed, trips that were taken, life lessons learned, favorite hobbies and so much more.

When I decided to give these ornaments to them, I envisioned that one day they would want them on their own Christmas trees. Over the past few years, as they have left home I’ve offered for them to take their boxes with them, but no one has really been interested. They’ve started their own traditions and their vision for decorating their trees. At first, I was confused by that. “But these are gifts that I bought for you”, I found myself thinking. “Don’t you want them?”

It’s actually worked out perfectly. I’m glad those four boxes remain in my attic. I can’t imagine those ornaments being anywhere other than our tree. My annual journey down memory lane is priceless and, as the grandchildren get older, each ornament becomes a perfect prompt for telling stories of their parent’s childhood days.

Gretchen is right, the years are short. But there was a lot packed into those years and I’m grateful for a time like Christmas that slows me down to remember the long days that were filled with such life and joy.