Another Christmas, more ornaments from those who care

There was a year when I didn’t have a Christmas tree. My mother

was very sick, there wasn’t much money for presents, and there was

absolutely none for a pine tree that would have to be thrown out in a

few weeks. I was 7.

My sister and I, though, were not going to have Christmas without

lights and ornaments. We searched high and low for the perfect

substitute for a tree. The banister of our New Jersey home was

dismissed as too hard, and the beautifully carved screen in the

living room was too un-treelike. But the indoor palm in the foyer,

like the baby bear’s bed in “Goldilocks,” was just right.

Charlie Brown’s tree had more flair and more branches. But to Lara

and I, we had made Christmas happen. The house had gone from dark and

cheerless to being filled with light. And it made Mom smile.

Every year, the best part of my Christmas -- better than the

presents, better than the eggnog -- has been decorating the tree. In

childhood, it was the day when the Christmas carols rang out in the

house. We’d put “Sing We Now of Christmas” on the turntable and

proceed to march box after box of ornaments out of the hall closet.

There was the Cookie Monster eating snowballs, the dough Raggedy

Anne I made with a smeared face, the “Nutcracker” ornaments from Avon

and the clothespin horses. There were the tin angels from Mexico, the

tiny drummer boy from Guatemala and the Frosty from my elementary

school crafts fair. We had so many ornaments that the tree always

looked filled without the need for colored balls of any kind.

My first year of college, I realized that some day my family might

not all be together at Christmas time. So I bought my mother and

sister an ornament each, so they would always have part of me on

their trees. They liked the idea so much, it stuck.

Every year, the three of us exchange new ornaments, and every

ornament is a memory. There is the wooden plane Lara gave me when I

was far away, the angel ball mom bought me at a crafts fair, the New

York taxicab with its load of presents and the tin cat bought after I

got my twin kitties. There is the straw snowman, the champagne

bottle, the Raggedy Anne and Andy and the crocheted snowflakes. This

year, a funny flamingo (courtesy of Lara) and a Cinderella slipper

(courtesy of Mom) joined the group.

I put up this year’s tree on Wednesday with the help of my very

patient boyfriend. This year, there were a few mishaps getting the

tree up -- thus the words “very patient” -- but it got done.

Looking at it in the dark, hours later, it made me smile. The

lights were hung with care, the ornaments given with love. It

reminded me of the reasons to have faith, of how lucky I am to have

my family’s love, to have friends who would help me put up the tree.

And Christmas happened.

* JENNIFER MAHAL is features editor of the Daily Pilot. She may

be reached at (949) 574-4282 or by e-mail at

jennifer.mahal@latimes.com.