1-7-23, Day 6 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day six of A Day In My Life!
The only thing I wanted for Christmas in 2022 was a nine-foot Christmas tree to fill the corner of our living room, next to the sliding door to our lanai (a fancy Floridian term for screened-in porch). Since some members of our family are allergic to real pines, we found one we could use over and over again, hopefully with lights that will continue to work. Ten-foot ceilings are nice, but we still had to bend the top branch to fit our angel on top. Our son had time to put it up before Halloween, so there it sat, bare and forlorn, for about three days before I broke down and covered it with ornaments. A Christmas tree, resplendent and lit every night since before Halloween. I loved it.
Our tree is loaded with memories. Taking it down involves many whispers of endearment to times and loves past, and a few stray tears. It takes days to pack up Christmas for that reason. I’m reluctant to say goodbye again.
Allow me to share a few of those memories with you. In the photo above, The tiny wooden ornaments on top came from Germany, back in the nineteen hundreds. The clothespin doll dressed in white leather with black yarn hair was a gift from Dyana, from a mother-daughter trip we took to Cherokee, NC, to see how accurate my descriptions were in Terra’s Call. Research after the fact. The dove with the rainbow and Nativity scene came from Arizona, a trip Bill and I earned with our company years ago.
Our moms grace the tree, and even though we know they’re having a blast in Heaven, we like to think they have a good view of the family from their perches. My mom is on the left, Bill’s mom in the middle, and my mom’s sister, Melitta, on the right. Photo ornaments our kids made in pre-school and grade school remind us of those sweet bygone years, and their children get a kick out of seeing them at that age. When we travel, we buy ornaments, and I spot some from Costa Maya, Mt. Vernon (Washington’s home in Virginia), and the Flagler museum in Palm Beach.
I took pictures of every angle today. I’ll share one more set, and then let you off the hook, so to speak.
Travels, Nativity scenes, tennis, writing, the Gators…it’s all there, in our tree. Who we are, who we love, what we love to do, where we’ve been, and Who we believe in are all represented. Our lives lit up, on display at random, pretty much the way we live.
I’m taking it down, carefully wrapping each piece and organizing it in a bin for next year as I savor each memory. Only not today.
Today, we’re going to a delayed New Year’s Eve party with some friends who have a ginormous RV and spend months on the road. This should be fun! Tomorrow, I’ll share a little about our Christmases in Germany, and what I want for Christmas this year. And more photos.
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
PTL Perrin Writes... 
I love the idea of Christmas trees. If it were a part of my religion, I would have a massive tree in my living room hung with ornaments. For the holiday of Succoth, when we sit in manmade tentlike structures in our backyards to remember the Jews tracking through the desert, we hang pictures and art made by our children. The rain can sometimes ruin this artwork, so I wrap our precious ones in plastic.
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Susanne, any artwork done by our kids is precious, isn’t it? I love that you decorate your booth with yours, and that you protect it in plastic. We have friends here and in Israel who celebrate the festival of booths. Sometimes, they send photos. Our trees are not so much religious as another form of remembrance. The Bible makes no reference to Christmas trees at all. It’s more of a tradition, and some people keep them up all year and decorate them for different holidays. If Bill would let me, I’d be tempted to do that. 🙂
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Patty, your tree looks so beautiful! I miss having a BIG tree, but I look forward getting in another one in a couple of years. Of course taking it down is a bit of a headache, but it’s worth the effort, don’t you think? : )
Best wishes,
Donna M Atwood
D M Atwood
https://dmatwood.com
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Oh, yes, Donna, it is worth the effort! However, I do like John’s suggestion of a wheeled stand and a tall, wide closet. Might have to do some renovation to get that dedicated closet in here!
Blessings!
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Don’t you just wish the stand had wheels and there was a closet tall enough to accommodate it? Then you can wheel it in and out every year without having to strip the tree. I know I do.
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That would be ideal, John! I think I’ll ask for both the wheeled stand and the closet for next Christmas! 🙂
Blessings!
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A lovely Christmas tree adorned with memories, Patty!
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Thanks, Jan. At my age, I need all the help remembering that I can get! I may leave the tree up for longer than I had anticipated. Can’t bring myself to put everything away yet. Blessings!
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Patty, a lovely post. Your tree is awesome and I love that each ornament is special to your family in some way. We do that, and still have ornaments made by our daughter 50 years ago! Enjoy it for one more day!
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Thanks, Maura Beth! I have one memory ornament nearly that old. It’s a piece of my firstborn’s first mobile – a little clown. The tree was the first thing we put up, and it’ll be the last thing we take down. I liked having it up before Halloween, and might do that again this year! Blessings!
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I took down my tree today as well. I have a picture ornament for every year of Dominic’s life as well as ornaments he made in grade school. Those are, by far, my favorite decorations on the tree. Thanks for sharing yours with us today, Patty.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Hi, Yvette! You’ll really treasure those ornaments when his children want to see what daddy looked like when he was their age! The best memories! Blessings!
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A beautiful tree, Patty and I love that it’s filled with memories. We do the same thing. Pine needles give me hives so I need to be so careful with a live tree that we switched to artificial years ago. The picture frames ornaments are some of our favorites and I see they are some of yours, as well.
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Thank you, Karen! We have all the ornaments the kids and grandkids have made for us, including the picture ones. I even have a plastic clown from my firstborn’s first mobile! I won’t say how old it is, in case she reads these comments. 😉 Blessings!
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Hi, Patty,
Your Christmas Tree is beautiful and I can imagine you needed time to hang all those ornaments. Well done.
I hope you enjoy your belated New Year‘s celebration.
Shalom aleichem
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Thanks, Pat! We had a great time! We enjoyed the company, played some games (the youngest in the room, a three-year-old, won both times and he played without help!), made s’mores over a fire pit, and ate a lot of delicious food. It does take time to hang the ornaments, but I love doing it. Taking them down, not so much. Blessings!
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