Tropical Zone Gardening: It's the season to be jolly... so there's no... without..., 1 by mpabbott1

mpabbott1 wrote:
When I was very young my parents didn't put up the tree until the children were all asleep on Christmas Eve. We'd awake to a vision of a tree surrounded with presents. We'd get to open one apiece before church. I don't know how they managed to hide so many presents from us. By the time I'd reached 12 years of age they started to put the tree up a week or so before Christmas. There were more children by then and they probably couldn't do it all in one night anymore. (I have 8 siblings) I enjoyed decorating the tree, although my Dad was a bit picky and we had to put each piece of tinsel on separately. As a child I wanted to throw big bunches of it on at once. Patience wasn't my thing back then.

These days many of the siblings are scattered over 4 States, and I'm the only one on the West Coast. My husband and I go to Christmas Eve at some dear Friend's house, where we usually enjoy a prime rib dinner, and then I cook a big dinner on Christmas day. About 7-8 years ago I started making wreaths for my place of employment and my husbands. At the company Christmas parties a name is drawn from a hat and that person wins the wreath. I usually make wreaths with Disney or Looney Tunes characters on it. I've also donated them to different fund raisers, such as a Hospice Foundation. I shop all year for ornaments to go on the following year's wreaths, so the celebration is on my mind all year.