untraditonal.

growing up, I actually really loved being “different” than everyone else during this time of year- celebrating hanukkah and not christmas.

and while I took pride in lighting candles, I remember always being captivated by my friend’s ornaments on their christmas trees. I was enamored with learning about the stories behind certain ornaments- ones that marked specific occasions, special events, antique heirlooms. little time capsules. even as a child, the nostalgic and sentimental notion behind having these mementos hanging in a home for a short period of time made my heart flutter. the stories. ornaments perpetuated stories… family stories. I loved it.

I never actually celebrated christmas until being in a relationship with spenser. and when we moved in together, I found myself having to negotiate finding my comfort level with having christmas in my home. I have no shame admitting that I was (am?) the prideful jew that would wear a star of david necklace only in december in hopes that people would see it and not say “merry christmas” to me. I know. I know.

it became an ongoing joke between spenser and I that he would “turn me”. and one holiday season, he got me a gift which included two classic ornaments on it- his humorous way to “rub in” christmas into my jewish world. and that’s when I got the idea. though I didn’t know if I would ever be comfortable having a tree in my home, I would love to have ornaments to preserve memories of the years.

so, we made a holiday branch.

the first year, it was a literal branch from our yard, which we named “elbow”, and strung with lights and small plastic ornaments. I decorated the house with silly christmas-y trinkets, like “ugly sweaters” for our wine bottles, and a puffed ball reindeer stuffed animal. I even got pine tree clippings and put them in vases to give the tree smell that my husband loved.

and for the last 6 years, for the holidays, we don’t buy each other gifts.
instead, we give each other an ornament that symbolizes one of our favorite memories from that year together. that’s what we open christmas morning.

and I love it.

I love it so, so much.

this year, as we unboxed our ornaments with finn- I got to tell him 12 unique stories about our lives from the past 6 years.

our family time capsule lives on a dried manzanita tree that we bought from the downtown flower district. we light candles. we make latkes. we drink eggnog. we sing holiday songs from both holidays.

we have whimsy decorations. colorful pompoms. white wooden dreidels. pine garland.

our home is festive- but it’s not white and blue, nor red and green.

it’s us, not a holiday. whimsy. silly. sentimental.

and this year, finn contributed his first ornament to our branch. his favorite memory of the year? I hope it’s being born! his dried umbilical cord hangs alongside our other memories.

a bit untraditional? welcome to our family!