Most people have a room or two in their house that has been devoted to junk. For some people, it is some sort of collection that takes over a lot of space. For others it is a hobby or heirlooms. My junk room houses art supplies, extra clothes, toiletries, you name it. Anything that did not find a good place in the house ended up in the junk room. The excess went to the basement. Having storage space for rarely used items seems to be the most important reason to have a basement.
Our family is a bit unique in this aspect. Instead of the typical clutter, it is Christmas decorations that take up an entire room at my parents’ house. Boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations fill a twelve by twelve foot room in the basement but it does not stop there. My mother has stowed away dozens more boxes of Christmas decorations in the attic. After fifteen years in the same house, I have never seen the attic but I have a pretty good idea of what it must look like.
Judging by what gets dragged into the living room each year after Thanksgiving, she has managed to hide more boxes of Christmas decorations that I would probably believe. She has even managed to keep three, yes three, artificial Christmas trees. As children we all wore sweatshirts she decorated with wreaths and holly. Pretty fun all in all but I think we will be forgiven because it was, after all, the eighties. I almost forgot about the six foot Santa who stands just inside the front door to greet holiday time visitors. My father and I bought him, the king of all Christmas decorations, last year for her birthday.
You see my mother’s birthday is Christmas. Now you understand the mass of decorations. From Christmas candles, place settings, wreaths and stuffed animals, our house is filled to the brim every winter with Christmas decorations. The older I get the cuter it all is to me but first time visitors to this Christmas wonderland of a house are usually a bit shocked at first. It does not take too long to get a newbie into the holiday spirit around mom’s house though.
As a child I did not appreciate her overabundance of the Christmas spirit but as I got older I realized that few children had the magic Christmases that we did. Perhaps that tradition was the best Christmas gift we ever received.