by Kathryn LaVon Davis

Created on: December 20, 2008   Last Updated: December 21, 2008

Three and the Tree - A Christmas Tradition

She couldn't have known what she was starting when she bought the first ornament; a Kiddie Car Classic, on Sean's first Christmas. He was too young to care, of course, and even the next year, just too young to care after being cautioned not to play with the cars with the loops on the top. Those cars were for the tree. The lights were much more interesting anyway.

The following year, there was baby Jared and out came the "American Classic Trucks." Again, no one cared but those ornaments were collected, year after year and placed lovingly on the tree. Those ornaments were collected to be passed on to those they were collected for. But not yet.

The year came when after divorce, the three of them moved out on their own. Never did they neglect to put up a tree, a lovely tree and it was becoming more "boy" with each year that passed. A few more Christmases and they bought their first home, a small home and the day they moved in, up went the Christmas tree; December 19, just six days before Christmas.

Three years later, Jared became the helper and then again this year, an emerging tradition. He helped to fluff the branches and hang the lights. The smallest, coolest and toughest; his eyes lit up with every truck that he pulled out. Then Sean, the sensitve one, after putting on a Christmas CD, joined in, asking "what did I think about this when I was a baby?" and "why do we hang crayons on the tree?" and Jared asking "when did you get this glass reindeer?" followed by Sean asking "does the S on this frog stand for Sean?" and being told, yet again, that the frog had been around about fourteen years longer than he had. The ornaments were reopened each year and the stories retold, not because they weren't remembered, but because it was a tradition of history, the history of their small family.

Because they ask, she tells them every year of the hard times, her first Christmases on her own and the homemade ornaments, the ornaments that were once crayons that each of them now hangs with pride, knowing they've been here many years, since she was barely more than a girl and living on her own. They love the stories that come with each ornament, each representing a year of her life and with each year more stories unfolding from the past, from her past, from their pasts and from the experiences that they made and shared together.

Putting up the Christmas tree, for each and every one of the reasons and each and every one of the people in her tiny family, has become a coveted tradition that is participated in by all three, with heart and soul. She knows they'll do it until they can't and then later, Sean will hang his Kiddie Car Classics and tell his stories to his family each and every year, and Jared will hang his American Trucks and tell his, and the tradition of love, sharing and history will continue.

Learn more about this author, Kathryn LaVon Davis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.