AH, TINSEL!

I remember when the tree was not decorated until the tinsel was put on. But that was a long time ago. We haven't used tinsel for years. I think we stopped using it when we decided to get a bushy tree. After our love of bushy trees died and we finally got an artificial tree where you can bend the branches however you want, we'd long forgotten about tinsel. I did discover a box and a half of silver tinsel in with our decorations this year. Maybe if I save it long enough, it will be valuable on Ebay.

I can remember helping to decorate our family Christmas tree when I was a child. My sister and I put on the ornaments except for the top where we could not reach. Daddy did that part. When it was time to put the tinsel on, he opened the box. The tinsel was folded over a piece of cardboard. He put half over my sister's left hand and half over my left hand. Actually he saved a little for himself so he could demonstrate good tinseling techniques. We were to take a single strand and drape it over the needles so it would hang as long as possible. This worked for me for perhaps the first ten strands. then I draped my strands halfway over the branch. That was easier. Finally, when Daddy wasn't looking, I threw a few strands together and let them land wherever they wanted. To me, putting on the tinsel was tedious and good enough was good enough.

My mother said that when my sister and I went to bed, Daddy did a remake. The next day the tree looked lovely. The ornaments were spaced out nicely and the tinsel hung long and smooth. What a good job we did!