The Christmas Decorating Gene

By Nikki Pelezo / Dirt Roads

Every year it gets harder and harder to put up the tree, decorate the house, bake the cookies, cook the festive meals, look like a million dollars and be inventive with the appetizers you take to all the Christmas parties.

This is what I think happened. When God passed out the decorating gene, a “too much work” caveat was placed to occur around the age of 65. Before age 65, decorating for Christmas was fun and every year I would put more and more stuff out until the entire attic was dedicated to Christmas. No ornament was too old, no scruffy Santa too dirty, nothing was left out. 64 for years of collecting, 64 years of church bazaars, 64 years of children‘s and grandchildren’s art work. Sure it took a solid week of work to get all the junk down out of the attic and put all over the house. Sure it took a strong back to heft forty pound boxes full of useless crap down out of the attic, but we all loved doing it. But come age 65, the candle sort of fizzles out.

I remember my mother hitting 65. She went out and bought that horrible aluminum Christmas tree with the revolving color wheel. She pitched all the ornaments and detritus of 64 years in the garbage dump and put the aluminum tree in the middle of the picture window and called it good. Well I think the caveat hit this year big time. It has taken me four hard mean days to get the tree out of the attic, lit, garland and ornamented. Now I have a carport full of the rest of the Christmas junk waiting to be put out around the house. I have bought $47.67 worth of goods for baking and appetizers which have not been out of the pantry as yet and it is the middle of December.

Next year I’m going to an antique store and am buying one of those aluminum Christmas trees with the revolving color wheel. But instead of paying $8.99 as my mother did, I’ll have to fork over $189.99 for the same thing. I think they call it nostalgia, but worth every penny.