The case for the hodgepodge Christmas tree

I’ve changed my mind when it comes to Christmas tree ornaments. 

I know this news will surely halt you in your tracks and cause a break into programming with such a bombshell news bulletin. And if you know what a news bulletin is in this day and age, kudos – your joints will probably hurt when you get up from reading this.

When I was in my twenties, something convinced me that Christmas tree decorating was all about aesthetics. Perhaps I fell prey to the marketing of carefully curated images in magazines and online articles or the displays in stores with baubles, selected to create a perfect, picturesque and camera-ready blend of colors against the green.

So out were the mismatched assemblage of ornaments that could range from elf to superhero at any given branch. In were the silver and blue, or red and gold of clean and slick Christmas. 

Nice looking on the surface, but as I look back, no connection to reach for beyond the first layer of pretty.

Now, in my forties, I find myself a convert to the hodgepodge Christmas tree. 

Aesthetics has its place, but now I realize so do memories. That’s exactly what those mismatched Christmas ornaments represent – memories. Each ornament is tied to a memory of the past: where it came from, when it arrived, or who made it It all brings about a swirl of reflections on times gone by, the places we’ve been, the people we’ve known, and what can sometimes seem like completely different lifetimes.

For me it might be a little glass Macy’s elf we picked up during a Christmastime visit to New York City before we were married, or a silver, glittery tree made up of spirals taken home from a Christmas party ornament exchange. Maybe it’s just Scrooge McDuck sitting in the tree, counting his money and reminding me of one of my favorite Christmas specials since I was a kid. Or any countless others reminders amid the green. 

So I say leave the picture-perfect, color-coordinated perfections to the department stores, to the magazines, and to the social media accounts. Dig out and embrace your past, hang it from a branch in all its mismatched fashion and enjoy the trip through the past wherever and whenever every branch takes you.