Mom and Dad were never picky about what ornaments went on the tree, or in what location various things were placed. I'm pretty sure Mom silently rearranged things in the days following to even it out, but so long as they weren't too broken or huge, everything that could went on the tree. One year my Aunt Jeanne made these cute clothespin reindeer. Each reindeer had the name of a child written on it. Our favorite part of the tree decorating was finding our own and putting him or her in the row of reindeer right across the front of the tree. We converted a See's candy wagon into a sleigh and recruited the gumby Santa from a box of sugar cereal for a full set! Our tree topper for as long as I can remember has always been two (very sad-looking) doves. They always drooped a bit but Mom really liked them because they represented the Holy Ghost (am I making this up? possibly).
Then, once upon a time, the Christmoose was gifted to our family. I'm actually really not sure where he came from, but he appeared sometime during my late childhood/early adolescence. The Christmoose is a moose that says, oddly enough, across its chest "Merry Christ-moose!" He has little suction cups on his four legs and is frankly, kind of funny. I think he may have spent one Christmas attached to our front window, but after that he was graduated to the tree.
I'm not sure exactly how this happened, but with our houseful of boys (and tomboyish girls) something is always being hatched as far as Christmas tree "themes". One year it was the the overthrow of the Christmas tree. You see, the Christmoose wanted to be the tree topper, dethroning the doves. Mom refused. We begged. She didn't budge. So what did we do? We started the Christmoose's slow ascent up the Christmas tree. It took nearly 10 years to get Mom and Dad to acquiesce, the Christmoose taking a stealth position, teaming up with other ornaments, creeping further and further up the tree, year after year. Finally the Christmoose was too close to the top of the tree for them to deny us a tree top war between the Christmoose and the Dove (the other Dove finally fell apart a few years before). They did, however, put their foot down when we proposed the moose attack via a zip line across the living room.
Finally, the Christmas before Brian went on his mission, the Christmoose took his place at the top of the tree and has reigned there for the last 5 or 6 years; the Dove sits on the branch just below. And of course, there is always drama going on with Santa and the reindeer, such as last year's reindeer rebellion where they made Santa pull his own sleigh.
Just last night, I received this email and pictures from my brother John. (He and his wife and daughter are staying with my parents and my oldest brother Bruce is visiting while he remodles the bathrooms. Mom told me last night that the boys came up with this by themselves...John is almost 30. Bruce is 41. I'm just sayin'...)
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Hi Everyone,
As you may recall, there has been an ongoing saga of the moose trying to catch the dove on the Christmas tree. Last year the reindeer rose up in rebellion against Santa Claus...In a bizarre turn of events, as punishmentfor last year's rebellion, Santa Claus tied up his reindeer, put them under guard and promoted the Dove to guide his sleigh!
The moose of course is still hanging on tight to the sleigh, trying to catch the dove...more to come as the events unfold...
Love, John, Dagmara, Piper, Mom, Dad and Bruce
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I could not stop laughing at the narrative and then when I opened the attachment and saw the pictures... It's just so funny, especially since I've grown up with all of these ornaments. I just love the pathetic look of all the reindeer all tied up and being guarded by that freaky ornament. Thanks John and Bruce! This is a tree to remember!
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