A Christmas Story| Painted Santa, Picture Tree and a Wreath

Tonight I decided to try a new series for the blog, I want to hear about how  families decorate their homes and the traditions they have for this season. This ha been a dream for a bit now and tonight I decided to call my Memaw and Pepaw to see if they would be up to being the test, I showed up not much later and started to take pictures of the place. The outside is very welcoming, a southern style Christmas. I walked in and said hello to my Pepaw and waited for Memaw to finish tidying up (a.k.a. pressing the buttons on the remote to turn on each set of lights in the house). I looked around to see what I wanted to capture for the post. These are items I see each year, items that I don't even know the story behind. So, I let them lead me through the house of decorations like I was a stranger.

The first tree they showed is the tree that the family sits around on Christmas Eve while opening gifts. They giggled through the awkwardness as they described each ornament, "this is a red ornament that matches the couch and oh, this is a poinsettia that matches the curtains perfectly." They walked me around the room, Pepaw sat in front of the styrofoam reindeer, that have to be moved every Christmas Eve because our family is large and so are the reindeer. He told about how they have put them out for the past 15 years. He looks at the reindeer as if they can hear him and says "they have had a couple of bruises over the years, but nothing that couldn't be fixed."

There were so many different things that I did not know the story behind. Of course, I know what goes up each year and where it usually goes. However, I didn't know that there is fishing line holding the tree up in the big living room or that the Santa behind the couch has the face of Uncle Jess. I also didn't know that they both took a painting class and decided to take on the task of painting Santas one year. Pepaw says, "every Santa has different eyes, it tells their character." This is being said while Memaw stands by the table waiting to tell me about the Santa/Baby Jesus figurine. She tells of it being her favorite piece, "It's my favorite because it tells the true meaning of Christmas and I love that Santa is praying to baby Jesus."

As I listened to Memaw and Pepaw tell about so many little treasures the have accumulated over the years. They both kept saying the same thing, "It's just memories, everything in here holds so many memories." They were giggling as they held up pictures from their Santa pictures collection (pictures of their children and grandchildren with Santa). There is a funny story behind each picture and my personal favorite as told by Memaw as she laughs, "This is Vince and Amy, I am sure that they were arguing right before this picture, but then they acted as if nothing was wrong the second they had to sit in Santa's lap." 

As I finished up, Pepaw asked me if I wanted to see one more thing that they have had since they lived in their old house. He walked me outside and told me about a wreath, one that I pass so often during the month of December. Pepaw says, "I remember the first time we hung this up, it was 1980, Amy was 10 and Vince was 7. I remember us hanging it on the door, not thinking anything much of it at the time. As the next few years passed I just continued to hang it on the door. Then when we moved I brought it back out and realized just how old and beat up it had gotten so I hung it over here on this light post. It goes up every year no matter how torn and tattered it is. It just holds memories." He finished by telling me a story of when he grew up. He talked about hard candy and how much they enjoyed just that treat of getting that candy each Christmas. There are some moments that are meant just for you, this was one of them.

I learned new things tonight about my family that I didn't know. I felt like I visited Mr. & Mrs. Clause's house. They know what Christmas is all about.