The other day my husband was kind enough to lug the numerous totes of Christmas decorations out of the garage. He told me we have way too much and I need to get rid of some of the decorations. What he didn't know is that I did purge A LOT of stuff this summer before we PCSed.
I was horrified when I opened one of the totes to find a bunch of ornaments all tangled up and broken. Apparently, the movers didn't like the nice ornament boxes I bought and carefully filled so I wouldn't have broken/tangled ornaments. I don't even know where the ornament boxes are! Grrrr...
Some of the decorations were still wrapped in tissue paper and all in one piece. I was getting out the stocking hangers to put on top of our hutch and I realized, "Wait a minute. I don't need these this year. I have steps and I can hang the stockings on the railing!" We haven't lived in a two-story house since 2006 and I am so excited to put lights on the stairs and hang the stockings on the railing like my mom did when I was growing up.
I also got to thinking about how military families have to "learn" to decorate for the holidays every time we PCS. Every house is different. Furniture changes (i.e. new furniture or can't fit the furniture as we did in the previous house, etc).
One of my kids' favorite decorations is a plush Nativity set that my mother bought for my son for his first Christmas. You can move the pieces around and set it up however your heart desires. My kids are 10 and 7 now and they still love to play with it. I love the fact that they still find something like this fun to play with after so many years.
Another "constant" in our decorations is a star for the top of the Christmas tree. My son made it in Kindergarten. It's a toilet paper tube with a yellow star made of construction paper. Our kids take turns every year putting the star on top of the tree. Sure we have beautiful angel toppers for the tree, but the star my son made is very special to our family and I truly hope it hasn't gotten lost (or smashed) in the totes.
Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life
For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox.
