PEOPLE'S DECORATIONS REVEAL A LOT ABOUT WHAT THEY CHERISH DURING THE HOLIDAYS.
Casey Coulter
Every year, my family buys our Christmas tree at “the place where Elvis buys his tree.” We walk through the aisles of freshly cut trees, trying to find the perfect one. My mom and sister pull at the branches to make sure they aren’t dry. They circle them ensuring they are full all the way around. Eventually we agree on one that’s about 8 feet tall. Then my dad and brother load it on top of the truck.
Soon enough it’s standing next to the fire place in our living room. A week before Christmas, my mom places her 32-year-old angel at the top. We load up our tree with ornaments from over the years, lights, and tinsel. My family home is decorated with one strand of lights outside, while my neighbors put out several inflatables. Seeing the decorations up puts me in a different mindset. It’s magical. Everything just feels happier.
Everyone has different decorations that put them in the holiday spirit. They might have had it since they were a child, or it might be something they found as an adult. Decorations vary from person to person. Some are tacky, while others are traditional. Many are bought in stores, yet some take the time to make them by hand. Still they all share something, a story. So I went around to hear them.
By Casey Coulter
For Abbie Mathews it’s not Christmas until she hears her favorite snowmen sing. Every year after thanksgiving, her family rushes to Hallmark when they release their musical snowmen. When hallmark first released these caroling snowmen in 2003, Abbie begged her mom to buy one. It has been a tradition ever since. At her family home in Chesapeake, VA the 14 snowmen fill her family room with music, “they put you in the holiday spirit,” Abbie said.
“I use to press all the buttons at once” she explained, “just to drive my mom crazy.”
She realizes that there’s something kitschy and consumerist about building her collection.
“It’s great for the business aspect” she says, “even though it can take away from the holiday.”
But for her these decorations is less about buying and more about a memory. She appreciates how there’s a new snowman every year. It’s a ritual that always takes her back in time. And as the snowmen collect, she gets to witness the passage of time.
Her favorite ornament is a snowman that carries a tree while other snowmen sing around him about the how they will decorate it. It reminds her of the special tradition in her own family. Every year they go out and get the tree together and decorate it. She and her sister argue about who will get to put the star on top.
By Casey Coulter
Katrina Feurtado focuses on the religious reasons for the holiday. ”I have this nativity scene that my grandma made,” she said. “It shows the story of the holiday.” Rather than filling her home with popular store-bought decorations, prefers handmade items. No lights brighten up her house. There are no inflatables in her yard. But inside, there are custom decorations everywhere.
Her one of a kind nativity scene stands on a circular coffee table in the front of her house. Her favorite pieces are the three kings, “My mom use to read me a story about them every Christmas” she remembers. In the story the kings brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They followed a star to the manger that the baby was born in. Baby Jesus is not added to Katrina’s nativity scene until Christmas morning.
“It follows the religious story,” she explained. Over the years, paint has chipped off, pieces have broken, and the words have faded. But her grandmother is remembered every holiday season.
By Casey Coulter
Dennis prizes his mother’s tradition of buying him an ornament every year.
His favorite is from the year his family got a dog for Christmas. He was 7 at the time and being the only child, he wanted a companion. That year for Christmas his ornament was a husky with a Santa hat. His parents joked that was the only dog he was getting, but the next morning he got the dog he wanted, Damon. His family only had the dog for a year, before they gave him to a family friend.
“He kept getting into trouble and I really wasn’t taking care of him,” he explained. The cliché of getting a puppy for Christmas is clear to him now. Yet, as a child he couldn’t have been more please.
As trees grow, so did Dennis. He no longer wants a puppy. Rather, he works as a personal trainer and is studying kinesiology. Yet, these ornaments from his childhood still fill his tree year after year.
By Casey Coulter
Amanda looks forward to having a white Christmas every year, though it doesn’t always happen.
“I grew up in the mountains of Pennsylvania” she explained, “it always snowed.” After moving to Virginia, she realized that there would not always be snow on her favorite holiday.
Not being able to go outside and build a snowman with her brother Brandon, she decided to fill the windowsill with unique snowmen. The first one she bought lights up when you move the broom on its side. “It’s my favorite because it was my first,” she explained “and it looks realistic”. Her collection has grown over the past few years, thanks to friends and family buying her snowmen as gifts.
“I’d rather see real snow, but they’re a nice substitute” she said. While they have no deep meaning to her, they do help to put her in the holiday spirit. She hopes that this will be the year she gets her white Christmas.
By Casey Coulter
What I realized in talking to so many people about their decorations is the way that physical objects taken on a significance that’s bigger than them. People aren’t buying or making their decorations because they’re interested in the things themselves. They’re meant to evoke memories and feelings.
Ornaments, decorations and trees create a festive environment that puts people in touch with their pasts.