The tradition of trimming the Christmas tree was something I loved as a child. We always had a fairly tall Christmas tree set up in one of the corners of the living room at Cebu Avenue. The Christmas tree itself was stored somewhere downstairs while the boxes with our Christmas ornaments were stashed in the cabinet in the study room above our pigeon holes.
Once Mother decreed that the tree was to be set up, the tree would be brought upstairs and the Christmas decor would be brought down.
Assembling the Christmas tree would require sorting the branches by size. The longer ones belong on the lower part of the tree while the shorter ones would go towards the top. These were laid out on the floor of the living room the connected to the tree trunk. (As the years wore on and the plastic got brittle, some of the branches needed slings to keep them up. Eventually the tree looked like a scene from a World War 2 movie and Father decided it was time to get a replacement.)
Over the years, we managed to gather an assortment of Christmas ornaments. There never seemed to be a rhyme or a reason to our decoration but there was always much love that went into decorating the tree. I took a picture of our Christmas tree almost every year. (I just don't know where that set is anymore. Maybe one day I will find those pictures.)
When I got married and moved out of Cebu Avenue, it is quite possible that for our first Christmas we didn't even purchase a tree. GI was only three months old then and we didn't think he'd mind if we didn't have a tree. Besides, most of the Christmas season was spent at Quezon City anyway.
I do remember that when GI was one year old, we purchased Christmas lights because GI loved watching them blink. Eventually we got a small tree to put the lights on. By the time RD arrived, our Christmas tree was in full swing with Christmas lights that played a selection of Christmas carols. What MyGirl remembers is the beautiful star that went on top of our tree.
Growing up, we would find gifts from siblings, parents and Santa under our Christmas tree. For GI, RD and MyGirl, the trees with the most number of gifts for them have always been outside our house. These would be gifts from the grandparents, the uncles and the aunts. In Manila, we would always be at Project 7 (MacGyver's parents' place) on Christmas eve then we'd be at my parents' place at Cebu Avenue for Christmas morning and most of Christmas Day. Now that we are in Australia, Christmas (and similar occasions) are spent at the house of close relations. As a result, the tree at home doesn't have the same impact on the children as it did on me as a child.
Nonetheless, there would be no excuse not to put up a Christmas tree at home. We got a nice hand-me-down tree with some Christmas decor last year after we arrived. I surprised the family about a week before Christmas and set up the tree one evening. I put the Christmas balls we had brought from Manila and added a star I had purchased when I was on leave last November. I let the kids add whatever other decor they wanted.
I have to admit, at times I do wish that I could give the children more, especially on Christmas. But it warms my heart to see that they happily accept the modest gifts we are able to offer them.
Maybe in the years to come I will put more thought into the decorating of the Christmas tree. For now, I will just enjoy the Christmas tree other people put up to see.
This one is at the Queen Victoria Building across my office. The QVB has three floors. At the ground floor, you can only see the base of the tree. You would have to be at the second or third floor of the building to see the star on top of the tree.
... and looking down.
This is a 'close up' of the top of the tree taken from the third floor.
(08 Jan 2011)
I decided I wanted to take a few extra shots of the Queen Victoria Building Christmas tree just to show how beautiful it is.
This is the base of the tree ...
while this shows the tree from top to bottom.
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