As I ride around town these December evenings, I see from the decorated houses that Tom and I are throwbacks. No one has the old-fashioned lights inside or outside of their houses, but I will have them as long as they are sold. I love them. The colors are the essence of my Christmas.
The tree is looking good. Everything about my tree is old-fashioned. I always used to decorate my mother's tree as Christmas always happened at her house for me (though I frequently worked on Christmas Day itself). When she died two years back I couldn't bring myself to throw away the artificial tree she bought 40-odd years ago or the ornaments and lights she'd collected over my lifetime, the oldest being six glass baubles that she bought in 1957 - she could only afford six at that time.
ReplyDeleteJohn, keep all those ornaments & tree. I only have 1 that my mom had. She had bought one for each of us kids. She gave it to me long ago & now that she has passed it means even more to me.
DeleteVery, very touching. I so love it that you kept her beloved Christmas things. And I'm sorry she is gone.
DeleteAnd I know how much that one ornament means to you. No matter how old we get, the child in us comes to the forefront at Christmas time. The child who remembers so much more than one would expect.
DeleteYour lights look lovely. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You know, I really consider anytime after Thanksgiving, Christmastime. I know it is really Advent, and I do admire and love it that the more traditional people still set up the tree on Christmas Eve, and keep the 12 Days of Christmas. But I don't. I didn't as a child. Even being Episcopalian, we didn't "celebrate" Advent except in church. At home it was full speed ahead with Christmas-y decorating and baking in the weeks before Christmas Day.
DeleteI much prefer the older lights, too. I did have some, picked up at the market but they've all broken now. You should see what people will pay on eBay for 'vintage' sets of lights!
ReplyDeleteI have found sources for buying them, but I don't know if the electricity in our countries is the same. I try to buy some every year now, and this year I bought from here: https://www.bronners.com/category/christmas-lights/c7-bulbs-cords.do
DeleteYour blog header is beautiful! Yes, those old-fashioned lights are like dropping back into childhood Christmases--comforting and full of memories.
ReplyDeleteI love your words - "dropping back into childhood" That is so true this time of year.
DeletePositively wonderful! Thank you for the post and thank you for holding on to the old, traditional things. Too little of them remain. Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you. I am an odd combination of very forward looking and very traditional. I heard the other day of a young man who rarely checks his mail. I thought it sad, but his mother said not for him. I suppose it is what we are used to. I am thankful my daughter still sends and receives Christmas cards at 37 years old.
DeleteI love your tree! Every year I pull out the old ornaments mixed with some newer ones and have a memory fest! I really don't "get" people who have a different theme every year. What happens to the old, treasured ornaments? I have ones my mother had, plus ones from our early married years. I do buy perhaps one a year from craft shows or one of my favorite places, but the tree looks pretty much the same every Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMary
Thank you. I haven't bought any ornaments in years. And I have some from my childhood Christmas tree. I have done some postings over the years of some ornaments. Maybe I'll do some more this year. And I sure do not get "design" Christmas trees, but maybe it is easier if perhaps one's Christmases were not that good, as I'm sure more were than we even know. It is so important for me to always remember that not everyone had a joyful Christmas time. Even my Christmases that I loved were marred some by a grouchy father.
DeleteSuch a lovely cosy atmosphere, very 'Hygge'. Merry Christmas, Nan.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm pretty much a "hygge" girl, Cath! All about cosy, warm, comfortable.
DeleteChristmas is a lot about traditions and feeling comfortable with sweet childhood memories, isn't it, and that usually shows in us getting out the familiar decorations year after year. When I open my Christmas box at the start of the Advent, I greet its contents like old friends.
ReplyDeleteYour tree looks lovely! Ours (i.e. my parents') will go up only on the 24th, as per tradition.
I love what you said about greeting the contents of your Advent box. It is such a special time. I do admire your folks, and perhaps if I lived in a culture where it was the norm, I would do it as well because I really like the idea of following the church calendar.
DeleteI think your tree is beautiful. You have to do what makes you happy.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteLost my comment again at the very end! Suffice it to say that your tree is lovely and I'm glad there are still people like you who honor these heartwarming colored big lights. It takes me back to all the Christmas trees I helped decorate as a child. And those RH and I had through many years of our 58 years of marriage. Merry Christmas, Nan!
ReplyDeleteI just ordered 100 more bulbs! I try and order some every year. And we have them outdoors on the metal swing on the terrace - primary colors, big bulbs!
DeleteYour tree is truly lovely. I always remember my husband saying, "there are no ugly brides and no ugly Christmas trees".
ReplyDeleteYours is just beautiful.
We inherited boxes and boxes of those old-school bulbs and decorations from my wife's grandparents in the late eighties and are still using some of them. Believe it or not, about half those old bulbs are still doing the job all these years later. This, though, is the first year we haven't decorated in decades because I was down with a sinus infection for over two weeks just after Thanksgiving. Looking forward to using them again next year.
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