I am writing to you from a little white wicker chair in the guest bedroom at Steve’s parent’s house. It’s the same wicker chair I laid Sarah in as a newborn to take pictures of her. Memories in wicker.
Steve is about to head out the door to the Charlotte airport to pick up Nathan who is, even now, in the sky flying from Florida. The two of them are taking off to Sugar Mountain Ski Resort from the airport to fit in a few hours of skiing today. They love snow skiing beyond words and rarely have a chance to do it so they are both pumped!
We will eat Christmas dinner and open gifts with Steve’s extended family tomorrow and on Sunday morning, we will attend church with Ken and Vernie (the same church where we were married) and then hit the road for Florida where our beloved daughter-in-law and cutest grandkids will be waiting.
I’m just going to share a few miscellaneous photos of what’s been going in the past week or so. There will be many more pictures to come as the next few days unwind.
Steve getting ready to announce a special holiday feature . . .
Happy Socks Sunday!
We finally got our tree decorated, just one day before leaving for this trip. I guess our house/dog sitter can enjoy it in our absence.
Here are Sarah and Steve doing the squint test.
We put a tiny bit of egg nog in a cup and dubbbed it Dog Nog.
We did our traditional pancake dinner before decorating the tree.
Steve spoke at our preschool’s Christmas program, using Summer as an object lesson. She was quite the hit.
After her grand appearance, Sarah brought her back to my office for a quick hug and visit.
Wednesday night was our annual candlelight communion service, always a special event.
I just grabbed this photo with my cell phone. Not technically beautiful but it does highlight the beauty of sharing songs and candlelight with people we love. A wonderful night.
What about you? Do you have Christmas tree decorating traditions? For instance, do you do the famous “squint test?”
Ha – We just put the pre-lit tree up yesterday. It isn’t decorated yet but we plugged it in anyway and it is quite beautiful without the decorations. My maternal grandmother passed away on Dec. 5, 1964 so my mom took my two oldest brothers to the town’s 5 and dime store and they picked out an angel. We still have the original angel although my mom did send her home one year with her friend who made her a new dress and tried to give her some hair again. She is about 4″ tall and has a little wooden head with yellow hair. My youngest brother now has “Grandma Schmitchen” and she is the first thing that goes on his tree once it is up and the last thing to come off the tree. To think that the very same angel has been adorning our tree for 53 years is kind of cool. Each of us kids puts an angel on the top of the tree and and we add new angels every year for those that have passed in our family.
Mel,
I LOVE that you have a 53 year old angel on your tree! How special and heartwarming, especially knowing the circustances under which you got her. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful tradition.
Becky, love your photos, the church is decorated beautifully. I especially like the photo of you and Summer. We don’t really have any Christmas traditions for putting up the tree, etc. I never heard of the squint test, what is it for?
Holiday Socks! Didn’t know that many people did that! My sister got my husband Christmas socks probably before we were married and for her husband and maybe our uncles. My husband and brother in law wear theirs every Christmas!
Have a safe trip to Florida and enjoy your stay in Florida. You should have a lot of fun with Nathan and Madison at the age they are at!
Kari,
The idea is if you squint a little, it’s eaiser to see whether or not the lights have been placed evenly around the tree. Steve’s parents taught it to him and it’sbeing passed down.:)
Happy socks cover Christmas socks in December. Steve loves them year round.
Dog Nog and Happy Socks… what could be more festive?
Mrs. Pam,
Yes, those are pretty festive words when strung together, aren’t they? 🙂
I don’t have any special Christmas tree decorating traditions. I can’t imagine why Nathan isn’t able to snow ski in Florida. I love our candlelight service at my church on Christmas Eve.
Below is a link to a YouTube video. My niece is the blonde playing violin on the left hand side. Her head is almost directly below the piano leg on the right.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=in+a+stable+in+a+manger
Phyllis,
Yes, I think Nathan should give skiing in Florida a try. You never know–he might enjoy it! 🙂
Your daughter’s music is gorgeous; she is certainly gifted. Such a peaceful song to listen to in the middle of a busy season.
Hey Becky!
Loved all the pics! Always do. Traditions are a great thing to have in life. Until it’s not. With my Mom dying and all, it’s hard to keep traditions going this year. We are putting it all on hold you might say. No tree, no big plans, no traveling for me anyways. Just hanging out at home waiting. Time is priceless.It’s all in Gods hands. I pray for safe travels for y’all and have a Merry Christmas!! Hugs to all!!
Catherine
Catherine,
This will be a precious Christmas for you and your family to look back on– the memories of being together, waiting, loving, crying, standing watch beside your mom as she gets ready to go. Tell her the Smiths say hi and send our love.
And grace and strength to you as you carry this heavy load of saying goodbye.
We do do the squint test, my dad always did that and now my daughter has her own apartment and when we helped her put the lights on her tree she stood back and squinted at it! A tradition I did not realize existed, but I love it.
Have a safe trip and enjoy every second of it! I can hardly wait till my family gathers to celebrate! Merry Christmas!
Kathy
Kathy,
Isn’t it lovely when our children pick up our traditions without our even realizing it? I know it was a special, special moment when you and your daughter got to ecorate her first tree in her own apartment. What a huge step for all of you!
When our kids were young, we always went out and picked a live Christmas tree, cut it down, and brought it home to put up and decorate together. We all loved that tradition. Now that it’s just the two of us, I’m much more into ‘easy’ so we have an artificial tree. I just replaced our great big one with a smaller one this year. It’s a pencil tree….very narrow but 7′ tall. It doesn’t take up much room and is pre-lit and took hardly any time at all to decorate! Win!!
When I was a child, my mom & dad would have my brother and I put the icicles on the tree. They were actually made of paper thin aluminum and were very delicate. We had to put them on so carefully (and almost one by one) and then when it was time to take the tree down, we had to remove and SAVE them to use again the next year! Ugh. They couldn’t have been super expensive….it must have been one of those frugal things of mom’s. She grew up extremely poor so didn’t waste a thing. She taught me a lot and I am SO much like her. How I miss her. She has been gone for 21 years but I do love all of these great memories!
Enjoy your time with your family!
LeeAnne,
That’s funny–there are several commenters that mentioned icicles. I remember those too and can’t quite imagine getting them all off the tree again in order to recycle them. That is definitely a tough way to save money but like you, I admire your late mom and her thriftiness. Seems like we miss the ones we love all the more at Christmas.
Hugs to you.
Such sweet memories!
Yes, I do the squint test … to see if the tree is leaning. Due to my son & grandson being the decorators (this year) who wholeheartedly hung ornaments on the front and one side, yep! The tree leans … adamantly. When I suggested they put some on the back, I got, “WHY would you want to decorate the back of the tree?”
The other tradition is “let’s test Nona’s ability to stand on a ladder to put the star on”! This year I opted to put it on first rather than leaning into a decorated tree lol Sometimes it’s the little “light bulb” moments!
Wishing you all a wondrous, family filled fun Christmas!
Guerrina,
That’s funny you do the test to see if the tree is leaning–I never would have thought of that. We do it to see if the lights are spaced evenly.
And yes, placing the star before putting the tree up is definitely a light bulb moment. Good thinking!
I usually put the tree up one night and then decorate the next day or two. Like to enjoy just the lights first. No traditional supper as I decorate alone while Jim is looking at his computer! Never done a squint test even though I do squint at times to see better either with or without glasses/contacts. Enjoy your Christmas vacation with all the relatives possible and especially Noah and Madi. Safe travels and Merry Christmas. Pray safety for Steve and Nathan as they enjoy their skiing trip. Memories that never leave us.
Ann,
We usually do the same thing–put the tree in place one night and decorate the next since it is quite a lot of work. Next time you look at your tree, join the Smith family tradition and stand back and squint at it. It gives a whole new perspective on light placement and as Guerrina said, to see if it’s leaning.
Nathan and Steve had a fabulous time skiing yesterday. I am so happy they got to go! You’re right when you say some of those memories never leave us and I am grateful for that.
Beautiful pictures – especially the candlelight ones. Not really sure what the squint test is – have never heard of it. I remember my mom used to use spun glass on our tree. Always used gloves of course, but because of the delicacy of this product haven’t seen it for years. Wonder if anyone remembers that. When our children were little, for some reason we would pick the coldest day to go out and get our tree, but tradition fell along the wayside – thankfully!! Love the socks!! Does that take the place of the ugly sweater? Know you’ll have a great time with your kids/grandkids in Florida.
We used “angel hair” on Our Tree when I was growing up and that would cut. Had not used it in years.
That’s right, it was called Angel Hair – had forgotten the name. It was beautiful, but getting cut was not fun. (Kids have to try and use it even when told it would cut).
Sharyn,
I hadn’t realized Angel Hair would cut you. One of those memories I had forgotten!
I remember that Angel Hair stuff! Haven’t thought about that in years! My Mom would lay it on top of a bookcase, I think, and she would put Christmas Figurines on it. Awful if you touched it.
Kari
I am not sure if you saw Angel hair stuff on the church tree or our tree? I know we don’t have any on our tree although maybe the reflections in the picture made it look like it.
At any rate, I think I do know what you are talking about and our family also decorated with it back in the day. 🙂
Becky, I didn’t see the angel hair on any of the trees, I was just replying to Sharyn talking about the spun glass her mother put on their tree!
Kari,
Ah ha! I missed the fact that you were replying to Sharyn. Thanks for the explanation. 🙂
Sharyn,
If you step away from the tree a little and squint your eyes half closed, you can see the placement of the light better.
Intersting the different names for that shining stuff on trees: angel air, icicles, spun glass. I love hearing the different names for our memories.
I guess the socks DO replace the ugly sweater. Hadn’t though of that. 🙂