December 1, 2009: The Christmas Tree
Growing up, we had different types of trees. I recall many years of fake trees and many years of real trees. The tree that stands out most for me, was the tree at my Grandma Ida (Jaeger) O’Connell’s house. After my Grandfather had passed, me had moved into a two flat in Chicago and we lived on the first floor, Grandma lived on the second floor.
As Christmas came around, the furniture would get moved around. The coffee table would go under the picture window and the tree would be set up there. Of course, this was one of the fake trees. I really do not remember who set up or decorated, my guess would be my cousin Tracy would set up the tree and probably put the lights on as well. Leaving the decorating for Grandma and whoever else was there to help.
What I remember most is the lights that twinkled in the living room! I remember laying on the floor at night and falling asleep near the tree. To this day, I love to sit in our living room, watching TV with nothing but the Christmas tree lights on. I am one of those people who leave the tree up way too long, because I do not want to take the lights away. I have some friends who laugh when they come over and ask when the tree is coming done. My reply is “I am hoping to start a new tradition where the tree stays up and we just change the decorations for the current holiday!” This always gets a good laugh.
