O Christmas Tree

I am, I admit, such a cheesy Christmas gal.  And my twin sister is just like me.. I love it.. we got it from  our Cheesy Christmas parents and all our fun traditions around Christmas.  Really and truly for our family the gifts were simply a tiny part of Christmas.. the cheesy Christmas traditions were the main thing.  For some odd reason my sister and I love love Alabama Christmas for example– in the old tape form.. hahah.. nothing says Christmas to us like a good renditions of Alabama Christmas Thistle Hair the Christmas bear… check that out on Youtube.  Our friends in college may or may not have appreciated the loud renditions of Thistle Hair coming from my sis and I’s room as we crazy decorated with our Dollar Tree decorations.

My sis’s husband maybe not quite  as into the whole Crazy Christmas cheer as sis and I.. so they saved their marriage by inviting me to help them decorate every year.  So fun.. with ALABAMA Christmas loudly playing in background.    This is my two precious nephews after we decorated.. haha.. that was minutes before the tree toppled over.

I wish I had a picture of my parents tree.  It’s such a fun tradition decorating it.  My parents have collected an ornament for every year since they got married in 1979.  You can tell some of the LEAN years.. haha .. but it’s such a blessing because we go through and remember each of the years.  My favorite is that the one from the year before my twin sis and I were born says “the year for merry making”..How ironic is that! 🙂  We decorate and then comes my favorite part.. we hold hands and dedicate the Christmas season in prayer, thanking God for our year and praying we will bring glory to him throughout the next year.  What an emotional time this year– as my dad was able to stand and decorate some until He got to tired.. and when He prayed we had so much to be thankful for .. as He is our miracle!

My tree (pictured at the top) is not as large and full as my parents.. but it does have some fun memories.. I college some crazy ornaments.. several from previous Bible study ornament showers, some crazy ones like a yak from nepal or a giant green sparkly mushroom.. each on has a fun memory.. Every year the tree looks a little different because you keep adding on.

This morning I woke up sad.  I had cried myself to sleep last night.  You see my best friend/roommate is getting married Saturday so she had her stuff all packed in boxes and was moving it all today.  I am soo stinking excited for her.. but to be totally honest felt pretty lonely just thinking about it.. we had the best time as roomies.. girl movies in the pj’s.. going for sushi..doing the single girl fun things.  And this year for me  has been HARD.. real HARD.. the Hardest I have ever had.   And I just thought Lord.. what are you doing here..why do I have to let go of this to.  Woke up this morning still feeling that way when I stumbled to the kitchen in search for coffee amongst all the boxes.  But our tree was there, all lit up and the Lord spoke to my heart as I looked at that tree of memories.