A visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past.

It was a few days till Christmas and we had no decorations.  We had no tree.  The little apartment my daughter and I lived in was waiting for Christmas to be invited in.  A friend had some cedar trees on his property that he was willing to have cut, so my daughter and I made our way out there to walk about and choose a specimen for our holiday.  I wanted a small tree, not that our sparse furnishings would be imposed upon, but because I had no decorations and very little money.  In the end, my daughter won out and we were blessed with a floor to ceiling tree to supply our home with some Christmas spirit.  It was time for creative thinking.
I bought a couple of strings of mini lights and some tinsel icicles.  I picked up a couple of bags of red and green starlight mints, some ornament hangers and a package with several small boxes of matches.  We popped and threaded popcorn.  My mom had taught me to make chain out of tinfoil and we added that for some sparkle.  We emptied the match boxes into a sandwich bag and wrapped them in Christmas paper, tied bows on them and hung them about the tree.  Then we put the starlight mints on ornament hangers and dispersed them as evenly as we could.  I made a few curly ribbon bows and hung them around.  It wasn't a fancy tree, but with the lights glowing and the tinsel hanging about allowing popcorn, candy, foil and little bitty presents to peek through, it brought a festive feeling to the season in our home.
As I look back, I know it was a difficult time, especially for my little trouper who was used to so much more at Christmas.  But we stood with each other and loved and shared what we had.  Thanks to a very kind benevolent man who would one day join us as a household of 3, she got most of her requests that year.  Not all, but most.
We drove to my mom and dad's for Christmas Day.  A heavy snow provided for a rosy cheeked, giggling treck to check out the sled.  The drive home over hilly, frozen roads with added snow was a bit frightening for mom, but it was a must have for that sweet meager Christmas so many years ago.  Somehow, looking at the child sleeping confidently in the back seat, I knew that the much we shared made the little we had insignificant.