Exotic yet ordinary

When I was growing up, it was tradition to decorate our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend. The day after we gorged ourselves on turkey and all the fixins, Mom would drag all the Christmas boxes out of storage, unfold the tree, carefully unwrap each ornament, and disentangle the lights. And then she would begin, first by wrapping the tree with miles and miles of multicolored lights, followed by strands of garland and the meticulous placement of ornaments. And tinsel. Lots and lots of tinsel. This was all done while I eagerly watched from a distance as my actual handling of the decorations was a big nicht nicht.

Now that I'm an adult (okay, older) with a family of my own, I've carried on the tradition. Before Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, we drag out all the Christmas boxes, put the tree together, unwrap the ornaments, and disentangle the lights. And then we begin to decorate the tree in much the same way my mother did when I was little, only now Maya watches eagerly as we wrap the tree with miles and miles of lights and ornaments are meticulously placed and I'm so happy to share this with her. Although, after Maya started plucking ornaments from the branches as quickly as they were placed, only to relinquish her prize and immediately run back for a new one I started to think maybe the distance thing wasn't such a bad idea after all.