Traditions

When I was a little girl, one of the things I looked forward to most in the year was decorating our Christmas tree. We lived in a big 2 story house with vaulted ceilings. So every year we got a HUGE tree. And people, I mean HUGE TREE. It was at least 20 feet tall and just as wide at the bottom.

It was such an ordeal each year because my Dad and brother would go out to get the tree, it would be tied up so they could drag it through the front door and the house would be covered in pine needles before it was even on the stand. This drove my mother crazy and I can remember her feverishly vacuuming those pine needles up - over and over again.

When the tree finally was in the upright and out position on the stand, it was time to decorate. It took forever to decorate that tree, but when we were done, it was all worth it. In fact, we were in the local newspaper several times because of how awesome the tree was. Now to some of you, that may seem lame - but when you are 6-yrs-old, that is pretty freaking cool! I remember when we took that picture in front of the tree. It was me and my brother with our two dogs and because the newspaper was obviously black and white, you could hardly see our dog Harry in the picture because he was gray.

When my parents got a divorce when I was 8, my Mom did a wonderful job at keeping those traditions alive for us. In fact, the first Christmas that they were divorced, my Dad came over to watch us open our presents and see our Santa gifts. As a kid, you do not realize how special that really is. All you know is there's a butt load of presents with your name on them and you CAN'T wait to tear into them all.

Since Mark and I split, I have tried really hard at keeping things normal for Piper. I would be lying if I said that I have been doing a great job every day. In fact, I think I fall short quite often, but the main thing is, I am trying and that is all I can do really.

Piper and I decorated our Christmas tree last night and we had a great time - well that was until she kept dropping the balls on the wood floor and they would shatter into a MILLION LITTLE PIECES. By ball three, Momma came close to losing it. Think gritting teeth and saying "Piper" through those teeth. But the point is, I started that tradition with her her very first Christmas - granted the first and second Christmas she could not do a whole lot. But this year she took to it like a duck to water and she was so proud of herself for decorating it. And the most important part, I was yet again so proud to be her Mom.