I was feeling a bit nostalgic as I looked back at Christmas photos past and present.
1975 was a huge year of change and it looks like a fatter tree. We had moved to Chicago and our daughter, Tiffany was born.
In 1976 Tiffany was getting into things so we opted to just decorate our little palm tree. The palm tree remained our holiday tree or quite a few years, especially when Keola was born in 1978.
I remember the year a friend named Terry brought over gingerbread cookie ornaments. We hung them around the tree. However, the humidity in the house eventually caused the cookies to become softer and fall. The kids would sit in front of the tree just waiting for the next one to drop.
1983 is when we got the artificial tree. It was nice not to worry about keeping it watered or having needles fall. I don't think the kids minded so long as there were presents under it.
Too soon, the kids grew up and left home. Tiffany got married. Keola joined the Peace Corps.
And we bought another artificial tree in 2009 after moving to Hawaii to take care of mom after my father passed away.
We moved the location of our tree in 2013. However to prepare for our son's visit with little JD in 2016, we bought a tinier artificial tree in case he might decide to play with it. Sure enough he did and caused the tree to topple over with its unbreakable ornaments. That was quite a surprise for him.
And this year, we're finding we like that little tree a lot. We've gotten lazy. It's a lot easier to set up and take down. The magic of the holidays is not really in the size of the tree or the amount of presents you get (a lot of those presents you see under that tree this year were actually those that we gave away), it's in the love you share with everyone.
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, everybody!
Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas
ReplyDeleteNicely done, Kay! Loved seeing your trees thru the years and the memories shared... Merry Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and Art and your mom, Kay! You are so fortunate to have her!!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
ReplyDeletethis brought tears to my eyes. just a perfect blog post for today! thanks so much kay and a very merry xmas to you, your mom and art.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Kay, a lovely look back. Life is short isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas! Loved the photo montage.
ReplyDeleteLooking back is a wonderful ting to do, and here's to little trees. Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmes to you all also...
ReplyDeleteJust perfect. Merry Christmas to you all.
ReplyDeleteA nice history of your Christmas. Kids really make Christmas...especially little guys who pull over a tree. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteI love the retrospective of your trees over the years. I bet looking at all these photos brings back lots of sweet memories. Ours went from medium sized to large, to gigantic, to artificial and now if I put one up (didn't this year) it's a three foot real Noble fir. When the holiday is over, it fits perfectly, top down, in my yard waste container. No taking apart or storage needed. Enjoy your Xmas!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the stroll down your memory lane. Merry merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year and what a year. Best wishes to Art and Mom.
ReplyDeleteAloha,
Bonny from OGG
Hi Bonny! I love how you identified OGG. Art and I wish you and Robert a much easier 2021! I hope we'll be able to travel again with you someday.
DeleteWOW so cool you can do a retrospective like this. I loved it. Merry Christmas -BB
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to look back. I hope you had a great Christmas, BB.
DeleteBlessing upon you ALL. I want an inauguration day advent calendar!
ReplyDeleteHow right you are. Happy holidays all around.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful batch of Christmas tree memories. Thank you so much for sharing them with your devoted fans! (I'm one) :-)
ReplyDeleteThat was fun! I love the year that the kids would wait for the gingerbread cookies to drop.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a tree in years - my husband was a Jehovah's Witness. Even though he wasn't very strict about it, I preferred not to have a tree in the house to deal with and the clean up after.
This year, however, my son-in-law bought a little tree from Whole Foods because of their cute little son - and because his mother sent baby's first Christmas ornaments. I made a Totoro tree topper for it. Little ones bring back the spirit of Christmas. Even to a bah humbug person like me.
Mahalo for sharing your history of trees, and for sharing your family adventures! Mele Kalikimaka! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteHauoli Makahiki Hou, Linda! Thank you so much for your help this month. It has certainly been a very difficult month for us. I don't think I can quite wrap my head around all that's happened and all there is still to come.
DeleteMerry Christmas... loved the photo montage... we went from large chop it down ourselves to large artificial to small artificial. My husband hated having to get the large one down from the attic and set it up... and then there was the problem of some of the lights failing...
ReplyDeleteLoved the travel through time with you and seeing how the tree progressed with your stations in life. Hope you had a wonderful holidays and that all have stayed safe and well.
ReplyDeleteLove your photos, so sweet. Our youngest nearly took our tree down when he was just a baby. We guy wired it to the drapery rod.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful post, Kay. It is now around noon on Dec. 26, and I an sitting in a quiet house catching up with everyone in the blogosphere. On Christmas Eve Jill and Jake and Tom and I were talking about our past trees, including the live one in a tub with unbreakable ornaments that we had when they were little.
ReplyDeleteThis post was such a joy. I loved seeing you and your family and Christmas trees through the years.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't put up a tree this year. Hopefully next year we will, but it will be a littletree.