It’s Beginning to Look a Bit Like Christmas

We will be traveling for Christmas this year, so I am sure the bulk of the holiday pictures will be taken with family (hurray!), but I realized the other day that I didn’t want to forget the little Christmas we are having here before we go, starting with holiday breakfast at the Athenaeum. We’ve had this happy tradition for the past four years, and this year Micah was ready for his own high chair (and, mercifully, was very well behaved!) They really go all out with the decorations at the Ath, and it is so much fun to be there. I do not see myself ever having a fifteen-foot-tall tree with coordinating ornaments and fancy ribbons, and that is why I love this one so much!

Decor has been a little bit sparse this year because our little explorer is…very into exploring. Bless you, parents of toddlers who put up real trees with real ornaments! Eric and I have always had a real tree since we got married, usually installed with glee the day after Thanksgiving, even on the years when we were traveling. I do miss the lights and the ornaments, but I just cannot imagine that the tree would be left standing for even ten minutes. (Micah’s current hobbies include flipping over all lightweight furniture and lifting five-pound weights…until his mommy takes them away!) When I was grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, though, I saw these cute little trees at the store and knew they’d be just right, safely placed in the middle of the table. I was won over by the little pinecones and ornaments. Please do not think the table is usually this clean; I have removed its usual inhabitants: the Sunday paper, which we read all week, two books on book stands (one for me and one for Eric), and a short stack of library books that I am always hoping to get to during nap time.

Behind the table is our string of Jesse tree ornaments. This is the first year we have done a Jesse tree, and I really love it. Each ornament tells the story of one of the people in Jesus’ lineage, going all the way back to creation. Each night we light the Advent candles, read the story, and sing a verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Micah does pretty well with it, and he sometimes dances. So cute. The other things back there are permanent residents: palm fronds from a million Palm Sundays ago, a giant canvas to block Micah from the bookshelf, little chandeliers my mom got for me at a Punjabi shop, and the perennial BART map in the entryway.

Last year our Advent candles dripped alllllll over this pretty wreath, and I had quite a time getting all the wax out of the pine needles. I got some different candles this year, and they do. not. drip! Thank you, science, or magic, or whoever wants to take credit for this.

Now, there was one problem with our little tabletop tree. It didn’t smell like a Christmas tree. As you all know, this is the whole point of the Christmas tree! So, to remedy this terrible situation, I bought a live wreath for $10 at Trader Joe’s and hung it on our coat closet door. It is pretty much dead now (as is the little tree!), but it still smells good, and that’s all that matters. I added the bow from my ribbon stash.

And finally, the mantle. I was thinking and thinking about where to put our nativity scene (a beautiful gift from Eric’s aunt), and then I realized, duh! The mantle. That’s kind of what mantles are made for. So up it went, and I slid our stockings behind the banner of Micah’s baby pictures, which I will probably never take down. I have a Bucilla stocking kit for Micah, the same kind I had growing up, and it is, so far, my sole goal of 2016 to have it finished before Christmas. In the meantime, I told Micah that he could have both of our stockings. To the left of the nativity is one of our favorite Christmas things–it’s a little Swedish angel chime that Eric got in Stockholm. You light the candles, and the heat makes the angels spin and lightly tap the bells. It’s our little bit of Christmas magic. I hope you have plenty too!