Fun Christmas Memories Don’t Always have to be About Polymer Clay

“I always have a little spider placed on my Christmas tree… been doing it since I was a child.” ~SusanAnn-A

Putting up the Christmas tree, always brings back memories of Christmas’ past.

The tree that our family put up this year has already planted some interesting memories that won’t fade too quickly… a cracked tree stand… water leaking all over the carpet… the desperate rush to get the steam cleaner out to suck up the water… and the quick fix Tupperware tree stand liner to make everything right again… but that is another story for another time.

After dealing with that little Christmas mishap, decorating the tree did begin to trigger some fond memories of years gone by. One of my childhood stories I thought you might enjoy hearing, happened back when I was a teenager.

At the time I was working at a Dentist office for a few hours each afternoon after my high school classes finished up for the day. Every year the staff put up this horrible looking Christmas tree. You know, the kind with the bad faded plastic ornaments and the long ropes of worn out tinsel.

I hated the tree so badly and thought it was the lamest thing going! So one night after everyone had left, I stayed behind, determined to give that decrepit old tree a full makeover.

I ran around collecting anything and everything in the office that would be fun to hang on the tree. Using dental floss, I tied toothbrushes, exam mirrors, boxes of floss, surgical masks, toy rings and a variety of dental instruments onto the limbs and the branches.

I remember being so delighted with myself that I jumped around after decorating the tree. What a surprise it would be for everyone in the office when they saw it in the morning. There were 6 dentists and a ton of staff so I was sure no one could possibly know who was responsible.

However, the next day when I came in after school, everyone kept patting me on the back saying, “nice tree!“, “Much better than last year!” “Lot’s of fun!” etc. But how the heck did they know it was me?!?

Turned out, one of the secretaries lived across the street and could see me running around the office and dancing around the tree. She thought it was cute and couldn’t help but let my secret out of the bag.

In my honor, they ended up decorating the tree in a similar fashion for the next couple of years… albeit with a much more restrained approach than what I would have done :-)

I have forever been pleased by that dental Christmas tree memory. Knowing that everyone, even a stuffy old dentist office, could use a little creativity and fun in their lives!

It would be wonderful to hear about some of your Holiday memories and traditions in the comment section below. They don’t have to be polymer clay related.

A while back I wrote about how Christmas tree spiders are a bit of a tradition for some folks. Legend has it that a poor family awoke one Christmas morning, delighted to see their tree covered in extravagant volumes of tinsel. Turns out it was a gifted spider who blanketed the tree with her glistening web.

This is darling! My brother absolutely loves spiders, I see a project coming on! *grin* …and I always have a little spider placed on my Christmas tree, no matter how small or large the tree is, been doing it since I was a child, I have even carried around the same little homemade spider for many years now, though the poor little dear has become quite fragile. Maybe this year I will retire him with one of these little beauties *smile* ~SusanAnn-A

And if you need even more Christmas cheer to help you get in the mood to share your Christmas stories, read the quirky little Polymer Clay Christmas Poem that I posted last December in 2008.