Lighting Up The Night...

Every year, we have the same tree...this too-sparkly, too beautiful-for-words evergreen confection with loads of lights, icicles and hand-made ornaments that graces the corner of our living room. As a rule, I am in charge of the final touches, but the kids do all the rest ~ and that's just the way I like it.
So, on the first Sunday of Advent, Nick & Andrea came over before dinner and helped to bring all the tree parts, the boxes and the wreaths up from the basement ~ and by the time I arrived home after some running around, the tree was completely erected, adorned with white lights and garland. All we needed to do was add the fun stuff...and for a few days afterward we were busy adding all of the ornaments and jewels.
Today being the Feast of the Epiphany, or Little Christmas, I expect that soon we will be taking down this lovely creation and storing it away for the next Christmas Season. Oh, how I hate that! I do love my Tree and the way it lights up the entire corner of the house...
This year we even kept it simple and only put up the Tree, the Wreath that adorns the side wall over one of the sofas(pictured in my previous post below), and the Manger in the kitchen. This one is extra, having come to us from Mike's parents after they had passed away, so it is of great sentimental value; our main Manger scene ~ the one we bought for our own first Christmas ~ is on the shelf to the side of the living room, and every year there is a race to see who gets to lay the Babe in His crib @ midnight on Christmas Eve. Keeping it simple is fine, but I do regret that, for the first time in recent memory, nobody thought to add the frost to the mirror over the mantel...so that will have to go up as a reflection of the Winter outside the window, having nothing to do with the Season of Christmas itself.
And now, before we are beset with the onslaught of Spring showers, I do have to say that I am anticipating a good ice storm, just for the chance to prolong my love for the Winter sparkle and take my camera over to the park for some unforgettable Kodak moments.
To every Season, there is a reason for loving it...