Tree Trimming

Grandma Mariam gave her grandkids ornaments, mostly handmade, each Christmas. She liked crafty things—beads, paint, stitchery of all kinds, crochet—and our yearly Christmas tree reflects her love of handmade as well as of us.

For the first time in my adult life there won't be a new Christmas ornament from Grandma this year. Oddly, this realization didn't occur to me until we opened the Christmas box this weekend. I might have thought of it at her funeral back in April or any other time in the intervening months, but I didn't. Out of regret and sadness, I had a fleeting desire to close the Christmas box back up, but that was quickly overcome by the excitement of remembering her as I traced my fingers over the ornaments she made.

Some are kitschy, some beautiful, but all were given in love. And in love and in Grandma's memory, I placed them all on our tree.