maybe not red and green, but happy and bright for sure

i have always had a love for christmas
the decorations, the tree, the lights
it just hits this place in my heart

growing up we spent most holidays at my grand-parents
and they always had the most beautiful decorations, my nan would go all out
later when we started staying home
my mom started her own collection of christmas decorations
i remember this stuffed lady mouse we had
she was about a foot tall and had a purple velvet dress and white lace cap
i loved that mouse
we also had a nativity set (not that i'm particularly religious)
that i loved to unwrap from the tissue paper and set up on the table under the window

but when we moved out my childhood house
most of our decorations were mistakenly thrown away
including the tree ornaments
first christmases
heirlooms passed down from my grandma
handmade atrocities we brought home from school

i was heart broken

since then my mom has had a christmas tree boycott
she still decorates, but no trees

last year i was living in my own place and i was determined to have my own tree
luckily a coworker had an extra fake tree that she donated to the cause
the only problem was that i had no actual decorations. until
one day i came home from work and found a gift bag hanging from my door
inside were some of the prettiest ornaments i had ever seen
bright blue and sparkly, purple crystals
and through out the first few weeks of december
more bags and more ornaments appeared
until i had a treeful of my very own christmas ornaments
the start of my own collection
new memories and new traditions

so my mom is getting a tree this year whether she likes it or not,

(my secret santa was my mom, obviously)