Decking the Halls

We have some specific traditions related to decorating the house for Christmas. As I mentioned yesterday, we get our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We set it up, let the branches relax for a day and then decorate. Today, we pulled out all the lights and ornaments to get started. Here are some of our treasured traditions:

1. We put on our Christmas mix and take particular delight in Barbra Streisand's frenetic version of Jingle Bells. (Zeca's question this year: "Wasn't Barbra Streisand jewish?" Yes and please do not speak of her in the past tense.)

2. The kids beg to put the star on top of the tree, each insisting that they are tall enough to do it. (Nope. I did it this year.)

3. Zeca pulls Miguel's personalized ornament from the box, looks at me pointedly and says, "I wish I still had mine." (It's been eight years!)

4. We try to remember which year the kids received which ornaments. (Too bad we are inconsistent in writing the dates on them, huh?)

5. We break at least one ornament, sometimes more. (Fine. I usually break the most ornaments. This year we broke zero!)

We have decked the halls for another year. Next up, we'll don our gay apparel. Actually, I wore flannel yesterday so we can check that off the list.