I love it when we get our Christmas tree. Because we don’t want to overdose on Christmas *before* December 25th, we wait until the second weekend of the month to get it. I love its spicy green scent. I love the way the ornaments glint and glitter among the branches. I love sitting in the rocking chair next to it, enjoy its peaceful beauty, the red ribbon, the small fairy lights.
Everyone has their own special ornaments and Christmas tree traditions. We drink egg nog and sing carols after our decorating. It’s specially fun now because the olders are able to join the singalong, too. There are several ornaments that are dear to me: the handmade ones that my kids have made, from painted wooden letters to child-stitched felt ones; the one survivor of a set of four a cousin gave us; a glass ball with a painted panda in a Santa hat from Hong Kong; a porcelain Celtic cross from Ireland.
Thinking about my traditions has made me wonder how my characters would decorate their trees. You know, if they had trees in the first place and celebrated the same holidays.
Kai, for one, would say she didn’t want a tree, but really? She does. She wants to belong, she wants to be part of her people’s traditions. She’d find the most imperfect tree in the lot though; the lopsided one, or the thin and scraggly one, or the one with a crooked top. She’d bring that tree home and she’d decorate it with old and imperfect things she’d find in thrift shops, and natural things like pinecones and winter berries and acorns. She’d string popcorn and drape it around the tree, and put oranges under it. And a pyramid of canned food, which is what she lives on.
The Marquis of Rocquespur (from Quartz)–well, he’d get the biggest showiest tree around. He’d dress the tree up the same way he dresses himself, in shades of purple and gold. His tree would grand, but prickly, with scratchy purple tinsel-y stuff. He’d pick glittery ornaments, like miniature disco balls, covered in mirrors, or sequined stars. Hard, reflective, glitzy, rough-textured. Lots of sharp angles.
Oh, and he’d have colored lights on his tree, too. Annoying blinky colored lights. In randomized patterns. The sort that induce epileptic fits.
Rafe is too busy working to have a tree. Knowing his luck–and dedication to duty–he’d spend Christmas being chased through sewers by bad guys and war machines. But, I have the sneaking suspicion, he’d like to have a family and one day go out, cut down a tree, bring it home and stand it up in the tree stand thingy while the littles danced around excitedly. He’d get the ornament boxes out of the basement, and untangle the lights, and put hooks on all the balls that mysteriously lost theirs. He wouldn’t care what the decorations were—if his family wants all cow ornaments, or just pink ones–that’d be okay with him. He’d just want to see their faces shining with excitement.
I haven’t mentioned Christmas trees to Isabella, though. I might get The Look.
Your turn. How would your characters decorate their Christmas trees?
Cassie breaks out the boxes of family ornaments made by every stray that’s passed through their house and a few beautiful store-bought baubles from when her mother was alive. She’d wrap around that kind of gold tinsel garland and make sure there was lots of color in the baubles, but only white lights and a big gold star at the top.
Wander would be the kind to find a tree in the woods, LEAVE it there, and put candles around it and a star on top, and then take his little Renée (a bit of a waif that adopted HIM) and sit her down in front of it and tell her stories. (She’d like that.)
Shield would probably make the whole tree sparkle with her own light, like the tree was the night and her lights the stars. I mean, what’s the point of BUYING lights when you can just fashion it with a thought? 🙂
Fun. 🙂
Oh fun!
Let’s see… Tanyana at the beginning of the book would probably have something sleek and ultra modern. It would be a steel frame, and all the decorations would be pion made. Very complicated, very bright and sparkly (to the pion-binders who can see them, of course!). By the end she’d only want the tree she shares with Lad and Kichlan 🙂 Theirs would be old-school. A real tree, decorations all hand crafted (Valya would bake shortbread to hang up too). Lad would get carried away and almost destroy the thing with his enthusiasm and Kichlan and Tan would have to take over. Aww… what a nice scene 🙂
Aww, yes, that fits Tan and her character arc so well. 🙂
Your family’s tradition sounds lovely. Where are the pictures? 🙂
Poor Abby isn’t a Christmas girl. She’s all about New Year’s Eve and bugle beads. That’s at the beginning of the book, when she’s Living The Dream, or more truthfully, Living The Lie. Louisa has a picture album that contains photos of her family’s Christmases. She’s deeply unhappy but doesn’t want to bother anyone about it. Bridget hangs out with her friends who have both parents AND siblings. Walt just stays mad all through the holidays. Marge decorates her big house and remembers her parents and dreams of one day having a family of her own. Oh dear! My poor characters Need a Little Christmas, don’t they?