Before J and I had children, when December rolled around I remember strolling through department stores admiring the beautifully decorated Christmas trees. Each one seemed to drip of glass ornaments and polished beads. Draped in gold trimmed satin ribbon, they hung off perfect proportioned branches. I really wanted one of those swanky trees.
But I knew it would have to wait until we moved out of our tiny two bedroom apartment or after we purchased a much-needed new couch or could afford artwork to cover our whiter than white walls.
And as life would have it, we bought a two-story house and a long kitchen table. Then we went on to purchase car seats and strollers and baby dolls and baseball gloves. There were no longer conversations about swanky trees wrapped in satin ribbon.
Today I saw one of those picturesque trees outside a store window. I stopped in mid stride to admire it.
But as I walked through our den and stepped over a pile of building blocks and one lone shoe I caught a glimpse of our own tree. It doesn’t drip of polished beads or lavish ornaments, but Princess Barbies and painted green wreaths made from chubby baby hands. Stories and memories are nestled between branches. And I’m sure this is the tree that I wanted all along.
amanda t dodson 
Such a beautiful writer Amanda. I love reading your blogs.
Your tree looks pretty swanky to me!
I needed this. We are in a rental having just moved across the country without a tree and I hesitate to decorate with our lack of space. Such true words spoken here. Thank you!
i’m teary again. sigh. beautiful. there’s nothing like looking at a tree that has love written all over it, is there? it’s worth more than all the swank in the world 🙂 this is priceless. thank you for linking, dear amanda.
smiles. i think you have a beautiful tree…great post….
perfect.
one year I finally left a lot of the “less than” ornaments in the box and adorned the tree all fancy . finally.
the kids didn’t like it , they said it was a decorator tree .
I’ve gone back to a family tree.
and thank you for your encouragement . it means a lot having my blog loves support
i can totally relate. I have a couple of table top, pre-lit trees – those I do up all fancy schmancy and they sit in the dining room and occasionally someone stops by to admire them.
But the REAL tree is in the family room, where we all live and play, and it’s covered in gingerbread men and unbreakable ornaments from places and times gone by and we all love it dearly!