We moved from Groveport to Pickerington in 1978 and for the first time bought an artificial Christmas tree. What used to take an hour just to set up changed to about 10-15 minutes. Putting up the artificial tree was easier, and therefore less stressful. It was nice not to have the stress, and once the tree was decorated it looked just as nice as a real tree. The Christmas lights were still tangled, but that would soon end too. The only thing I missed was that smell of pine that always reminded me that it was Christmas season. I guess that's the reason why, when I finally bought my own house, I've always gotten a real tree at Christmas time.
The house in Pickerington was decorated a little differently. I no longer shared a room with my older brother, but my bedroom became the gathering point on Christmas morning while we waited for mom and dad to wake up. The house in Pickerington was two stories, so instead of having the sheet hanging over the opening to the living room, we just knew that we had to stay upstairs until dad went down and prepared everything for us to come down. This change led to Christmas music being played, along with the Christmas lights being turned on. By this time we all knew the "truth" about Santa Claus, so that bit of fun was no longer part of the day. But we still enjoyed the holiday. We still made the trips to the grandparents' after doing our own morning Christmas routine.
1978 would be the last year that we spent with all 4 grandparents, as one of my grandfathers would pass away a little more than a month later. Realizing that fact now keeps me in mind of that fact that we need to cherish these memories each time. We all know that family can get on your nerves. They can do things that you don't like, or don't agree with, but they are still family. That doesn't mean that you disregard the things they may do to hurt you. But maybe what we need to do is distinguish between the times when people do things to hurt us, and when people do things that we don't agree with. If someone makes a decision in their life that doesn't affect me, isn't malicious, and doesn't affect the people I care about...then it's not my place to judge that decision. Just like it's no one else's place to judge my decisions.
The house in Pickerington was decorated a little differently. I no longer shared a room with my older brother, but my bedroom became the gathering point on Christmas morning while we waited for mom and dad to wake up. The house in Pickerington was two stories, so instead of having the sheet hanging over the opening to the living room, we just knew that we had to stay upstairs until dad went down and prepared everything for us to come down. This change led to Christmas music being played, along with the Christmas lights being turned on. By this time we all knew the "truth" about Santa Claus, so that bit of fun was no longer part of the day. But we still enjoyed the holiday. We still made the trips to the grandparents' after doing our own morning Christmas routine.
1978 would be the last year that we spent with all 4 grandparents, as one of my grandfathers would pass away a little more than a month later. Realizing that fact now keeps me in mind of that fact that we need to cherish these memories each time. We all know that family can get on your nerves. They can do things that you don't like, or don't agree with, but they are still family. That doesn't mean that you disregard the things they may do to hurt you. But maybe what we need to do is distinguish between the times when people do things to hurt us, and when people do things that we don't agree with. If someone makes a decision in their life that doesn't affect me, isn't malicious, and doesn't affect the people I care about...then it's not my place to judge that decision. Just like it's no one else's place to judge my decisions.
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