It finally feels like Christmas at the Heep's. Sean was in charge of outside decorations, and I tackled the tree and anything else interior. He got right on the ball and completed his duties on Thanksgiving weekend. I, on the other hand, came down with a slight bout of the bah-humbugs as soon as I took a look at our dusty artificial tree and considered the daunting task at hand. My mother's claim to fame is her Christmas Tree. We've even tried to come up with a way for her to parlay this seasonal skill into a full-time career. However, it is probably best that she reserve it for us, rather than letting it become a job. We wouldn't know how to react if she ever lost interest. It is so much fun to see how she will top the previous year. She does it every time, adding an extra strand of twinkle-y lights, rearranging the nostalgic ornaments and sprinkling buckets of fake snow, which, by the way, isn't tacky at ALL! It is always beautiful.
I wish I had inherited that passion of her's when it comes to decorating my own tree. I mean, once I get going, and have gotten past the branch-spreading and light-wrapping, I do enjoy myself. In fact, the other night, as I was putting the final touches on the tree, I stopped to soak it all in. (I know, I say that a lot, I am just so proud of myself when I do it.) Anyway, I realized right then, that as we were all busy doing our things, we were creating Willa's first memories of the holidays, establishing for her, the sense of family and tradition (and all of that warm and fuzzy stuff) that is so important to me. Not that those things didn't matter when it was just the two of us, but now that we have Willa, there's a much greater purpose to everything that we do. And that simple, yet sweet, concept is something I have long craved.
It was a storybook kind of evening...Here we all were, at home on an otherwise quiet Monday night. Sean was in the kitchen cooking up something delicious for dinner (It was spaghetti and it smelled wonderful.) We had a warm fire going and Christmas tunes blaring (one of Sean's fab compilations.) I was singing and dancing (yes, the cd was THAT good) and as I searched for a few vacant branches to place the last of the ornaments, Willa circled the tree, touching and grabbing everything she could, without me noticing. She kept pointing at the bubble lights and saying "hot" (with a silent "h" and a very exaggerated "t.") But the best part was the few times we caught her bobbing to the music. She was really into it, and actually has pretty good rhythm and serious moves. There's the basic bob, which she performs either standing or upright on her knees. She can also "raise the roof" and "dribble" like nobody's business. But most of the time, she just extends her pointer and conducts. One day, I'll teach her my signature Runningman and Roger Rabbit dance moves.
So here are some pictures of our Christmas decor. I'm a less-is-more kind of girl, remember? So the fact that we have a snow-skiing polar bear on the roof is a pretty big deal. Also, notice the snowman...it was a gag wedding gift from my brother, and we have proudly displayed it every year. Today, I'm going to use my Willa-Wednesday to wrap presents at the shop. I'm just feeling so Christmas-y all of a sudden. Must be the decorations.
