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Form follows function. I repeated this mantra to myself early this morning as I gazed upon our Christmas tree.

I vaguely remember how I decorated Christmas trees before I had children. I believe they were covered with fragile and meaningful ornaments which had been selected based upon a certain theme. I remember that the lights and the tinsel had to be “just so”. I remember that friends would come over to admire my handiwork.

That was 15 years and 5 children ago.

Now, our tree is covered with mostly indestructible resin ornaments. They can’t be destroyed if they are dropped by a child and, in most cases, they don’t show chew marks if the puppy should decide to rip one off the tree. In addition, we’ve left the bottom third of the tree bare. From past experience, I know that this will minimize the amount of times that I have to run after a child or an animal to retrieve an ornament and re-decorate the tree. All joking aside, this saves a lot of time and effort!

Because we also have cats which love to use the tree as their personal indoor playground, we wire the tree to the wall. Before we started this yearly tradition, it was common for the tree to topple over several times a day. Each tree toppling event meant that broken ornaments needed to be fixed or thrown away if they were beyond repair. The tree had to be re-decorated and needed to be put again in it’s stand. Water would have to be cleared off the floor and occasionally, children needed to be rescued from under the toppled tree. It got to be slightly stressful and very time consuming.

I have to admit, my Christmas trees still elicit a reaction from visitors who come to our home. Nowadays, that reaction is usually laughter. I was slightly offended by that reaction until my grandmother shared her wisdom with me. The truth of the matter is that one day, my children will be grown, and the pets will be gone (maybe). My house will be quiet and I will miss every second of the madness that is my life at this moment. When I gaze upon the “perfect” Christmas tree I have decorated, I will yearn for a raggedy tree that’s been decorated with indestructible ornaments and wired to the wall.

Form follows function, but the heart never forgets.

[Photo from ||!prliignore0||]