A Lifetime of Memories Packed Away for Another Year
Packing away Christmas decorations is always bittersweet. After fifty-three years of carefully storing the lights, ornaments, and baubles, it’s become more than a chore—it’s a tradition. Each item packed away holds memories of our family’s journey, marking the passage of time. This annual ritual reminds me of what’s truly important: not the gifts, but the moments and traditions that shape our lives.
A Family Tradition
Fifty-three times, I’ve packed up this Christmas decor, these lights, and holiday baubles. And I’m glad the people in my family don’t insist on helping because, for me, this is like taking a trip through years of memories. Besides, I know how everything should be put away. It must be the same as last year, the year before, and the year before that. Any other way just wouldn’t be right.
There’s not one thing in all of these boxes that doesn’t symbolize an event in our marriage, a season in our family’s life, or a small boy’s best work.
Reliving the Past
As each adornment comes to rest in its pre-appointed position something wonderful happens. I start to relive the past years through the collective memories of the holiday seasons. There’s something about chubby faces framed by Mason jar lids and macaroni angels that bring the tears and wash the soul.
I’m immersed in the wonder that I’ve been given another year to know my boys, my husband, daughters-in-law, and now my grandsons. I recall with amazing acuity the seasons through which we’ve traveled. With 20/20 vision I see how hard things did work together. The ways those situations we questioned did happen for a reason. Trials brought triumphs and little boys did become good men.
Embracing the Journey
I force myself to pause momentarily and remember the failures and mistakes. They have a way of keeping everything in perspective. I can’t help but reflect on the events of this season. The traditions we repeat year after year are what bring a sense of security and warmth in the midst of our hectic and fragmented lives.
The stabilizing effect of holiday traditions have carried us through difficult times. When there was little money to buy gifts our unchanging traditions diverted our attention from what we didn’t have to what we did.
The Gift of Memory
It never ceases to amaze me that hardly any of us can recall the gifts we received as recently as last year. But we remember exactly what we did, who came to visit and everything that contributed to the warmth and wonder of the season.
As I put everything away I think about how quickly time passes and how soon I’ll be unpacking again. I daydream about what might happen in the next all-too-short twelve months. I wonder what possible challenges or dramatic changes we’ll face together in the coming year. Our lives could be altered drastically by the time I open these boxes again.
Looking Ahead
So with the joy of the season past still lingering and the promise of the year to come beckoning, I cram the last box into its spot, slide the door closed hoping everything won’t melt during the summer heat as I haul out the vacuum and replace the furniture exactly as it was before.
Question: What’s your favorite Christmas tradition that never fails to bring back wonderful memories? Share with me down in the comments below.
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After our first granddaughter celebrated her first Christmas i ordered a photo cube that is an ornament. This Christmas is our 2nd granddaughter’s first Christmas. I’m gathering photos from family to order a photo cube for her. Each year our kids got a new ornament in their stocking. Now as I’m packing up my Christmas decorations, I’m separating our sons ornaments in a separate box to pass on to him. He’s excited to get them and his metal Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I’ll miss that.
Hi Sandra, how wonderful that you’re continuing the tradition with your granddaughters! The photo cubes sound like a beautiful way to cherish their first Christmases. I’m sure your son will treasure his ornaments and Charlie Brown tree—it’s so special to pass those memories down. Wishing you and your family a joyful New Year!
Having 5 grandchildren in their twenties who still love to sing the Happy Birthday song to Jesus and blow out the candles on His birthday cake is one of my favorite traditions!
On of my most cherished Christmas memories is when we moved to California from Tennessee when I was about 11 years old. Daddy had just started a new job and we had almost no money for presents or tree. Daddy cut a printed tree out of a magazine that you were to put together and would stand up. My parents were so busy that the tree never got put together, but it didn’t matter. The fact that my daddy tried to see that we had some sort of tree was a memory that I will treasure forever.
Dear Mary,
Your post today really touched my heart. Time is fleeting and we should stop and appreciate where we’ve been and those we’ve been blessed with, in our lives.
You, dear Mary, have been a blessing in our family’s life! Thanks to your books and articles, all those many years ago, I learned to manage our family’s finances and can now enjoy a very comfortable retirement. You were the first step in our journey and for that, I thank you!
Many blessing to you and yours this holiday season and always!!
Maria
Thank you, Maria! Your kind words mean the world to me. God bless you and your family as we head into a brand New Year!
For many Christmases while I was in high school and college, my two sisters and my parents would each be prepared on Christmas Eve with a story or poem or scripture that we had found–and sometimes a poem we had written–to share. My mother saved them in a binder. When I married, I began my own collection of Christmas stories and poems, often illustrating them with parts of Christmas cards or bits of Christmas wrapping paper. Now, at 83, with several binders on a shelf, I enjoy browsing through them and remembering other Christmases and those little children who are now adults with adult children.
Christmas Eve is our family’s gathering time. All 5 kids and their kids, 10 grandkids and 1 great grandson, come to our house for an Italian feast. We all bring a part of the meal. I do lasagna and tiramisu and the kids bring Italian salad, garlic bread and appetizers. We eat early, exchange gifts and play games which is the best part! Everyone is so competitive and we laugh until our faces hurt. I treasure these gatherings and we take time to remember those who have passed and reflect on our year and express our wishes for the year ahead. This tradition is my heart.
Dear Heart, I often ask our kids if they remember what they got for Christmas (pick a year)…say 2019
Of course they can’t. But when I ask them about the Christmas memories we have made…special memories, minute-to- win-it games, Right/Left gift passing during the Luke 2 Christmas reading, the dramatization of the Christmas story with costumes from around the house, candle light Christmas Eve services, birthday cakes for Jesus, …and they recall them all
Making memories is what lasts
A beautiful post, Mary, and I’m the same about “putting Christmas away”. But like so many, our decorations are up until the Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6. That’s the 12th day of Christmas, the official end to the Season and it gives us another week to enjoy the beautiful lights and decorations before the cold and kind of gloomy winter months set in. :o)
You’ve expressed beautifully some of the same things I feel when I put out the decorations and the pack them away. Most of our tree decorations are small souvenirs we’ve picked up in our travels or special events over the years — a Mickey Mouse from Disneyworld, several Special Olympics ornaments from my daughter’s competitions, including World Games in Ireland, ornaments that my mother made for my daughter, the tiny crocheted Christmas bear I bought in the hospital shop her first Christmas when my daughter had surgery on Christmas Eve and I taped it to her crib so we had a tiny bit of cheer to remind us that we could celebrate that her life was saved, and ornaments that she made over the years. They all have a memory attached. Thank you for putting it into words!
Your article captured my sentiments exactly each time I put up the decorations and each time take them down. Christmas holds our most fragile memories. Thank you for your thoughtful article.
We usually get together on Christmas Eve. and have chili except for the daughter who doesn’t care for chili. On Christmas morning we have a good breakfast with our Mrs. Morrison’s coffee cake(received from a neighbor in 1970) and scrambled eggs, etc.—then we open presents.
Driving up to the high elevation to cut our tree. Stopping for lunch at small local eateries