Monday December 22nd, 2003
A Christmas Tradition
When my parents were in college they started a yearly Christmas tradition which our family celebrates to this day. Each year for Christmas a single ornament is bought that represents the most influential event of the previous year. We start from 1970 picking out the ornaments and saying what it represents. Every Christmas, I recall the most important event of each year, for my entire life. A little cheesy I know, but the nostalgia of this ceremony which I’ve been a part of since my birth is the closest I’ll ever come to a religious experience. My mother says a year as she hands an ornament to one of us and the stories begin. “1970 your father and I first moved in together.” As a child each ornament was accompanied by a ten minute story which I could rattle off verbatim if I thought you wanted to know thirty six years of my parent’s lives. A black and white picture in a gold frame with a black bow is handed to me, “1984 Grand Pop died.” I place the picture on the tree and can’t help but remember the first time I did so. “1989 the two of you were in cub scouts.” My brother places a small council badge on the tree as I recall my fire starting phase. “2000 you both move out to Hollywood.” Placing the small gold “Oscar” statue keychain on the tree I wonder how this story would change as the years went on. Would I go to LA to make a career? Would I go looking for an extended vacation? Maybe I’d just go to try to “Find myself.” It made me wonder how my parent’s stories might have changed. “OK so now we need to figure out an ornament for this year.” Sometimes we knew months in advance what the ornament would be, sometimes we bought one as late as March for the previous year. Either way I knew the most influential event of the last year but I wouldn’t want to explain why there’s a condom on the tree.
