Christmas Traditions

Even my mediocre feelings towards the holidays this year couldn't keep me from buying a tree. This time I actually had family members to help decorate it. The evening before my graduation, I took my little sister to Lowe's to help me pick out a tree. Until then, I hadn't even taken my "Christmas" storage box out of the shed.
Here are my MIL (left) and mom (right) putting ornaments on the tree. It was strange watching other people put my ornaments on my tree (I tend to be very controlling over my decorations), but I was so, so happy they were here! When I thought about it, it's been 6 years since I've decorated a tree with anyone besides R!


This was some artsy thing R tried to do by wiggling the camera. Eh, whatever.


This is probably my most favorite "ornament." It's called "Santa's Band" and it's made up of 7 bears and santa playing the bells. They actually turn on their base and strike the bells to play "35 songs." Actually, it only plays the first minute of each song, just enough for them to be recognizable. I don't even know how long this has been in my family (maybe since around 93), but I didn't get it until 2001 (when dad was packing their house stuff, he got rid of a lot of their Christmas stuff). Every year I set it up with the same garland and "icicle lights." Last year I added the little houses (I painted them). I usually only play it a few times during the holidays, but it's funny how ingrained those songs are-I can even tell you what song is next after a whole year of not hearing it!
Finally, this is the tree on campus. This is the first time one has been set up, and it was pretty nice. I kinda like the way my camera wiggle made the lights look like little Cs!



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