His goal was to have the best and most decorated house in the neighborhood. It was not that he had a lot of decorations, it was the meaning he put into the decorations. His decorations started to get a little out of hand and grandma would have to reel him back in.

Grandpa was responsible for decorating the outside of the house while grandma tackled the interior. The perimeter of the house was decorated with colorful lights making it very festive.

The most important part though was the decorations on top of the roof. My grandfather had purchased a plastic Santa Claus with a light bulb inside that would illuminate Santa. He also had a plastic sleigh with two elves riding inside.

In front of the sleigh was three plastic reindeer that stood in single file connected by a plastic ribbon rein. The front most reindeer was of course Rudolph and had a red light bulb for a nose. The Christmas season was officially underway when grandpa set up his decorations.

As a young child I was responsible for helping grandpa retrieve all of the decorations and checking all of the parts to make sure they were working. As I got older I graduated to actually helping carry the decorations to the roof.

As my grandparents got older, it became harder and harder for them to put up the decorations. Rather than see this tradition subside, I would go over every weekend after Thanksgiving and dutifully put up the decorations and especially Santa and the reindeer.

After my grandmother passed away I still went over and helped grandpa and made sure that his Christmas decoration tradition lived on. Finally one year after Christmas as I was taking down the decorations grandpa took me aside and told me that would be the last year for his decorations.

It was sad to think this was the last time these decorations would adorn his house. Rather than let the tradition die though, grandpa gave me all of his decorations and asked if I would please continue to put them up and to remember all of the times we spent together.

Since that day I have been the keeper of the Christmas decorations. The plastic Santa has been cracked and mended, the sleigh and the reindeer too have been repaired more times than I care to remember.

But each year the box is removed from the garage and each season Santa and his reindeer are placed upon the roof of the house signifying the beginning of another Christmas season.

Now my children are there to help me as we remove each piece and check for wear and tear making whatever fixes are necessary. We gingerly place each piece on the roof and stand at the edge of the driveway and watch as the decorations come to life.

The decorations have withstood a lot of years of use and are old and fragile. In a sense so am I. It’s not as easy as it once was to hoist them onto the roof and at some point I like my grandfather will finally decide that the years and the labor are just too much.

Hopefully my children and perhaps even my grandchildren will remember the times they helped putting Santa and his reindeer out on the roof. Then they will remember the care and the love they had making an old man happy and perhaps bringing joy to a passerby.

It is not about having the biggest Christmas display or the largest number of lights. It is about having decorations and traditions that have meaning and bring joy to those around you.

So as I light Santa there on the garage roof I fondly remember my grandfather and all the years that he brought joy and laughter to those who passed by his house with just a simple display and a lot of love.

With Thanksgiving quickly becoming a memory it is now time to turn our sights squarely onto the next holiday, which of course is Christmas. This weekend is typically when the Thanksgiving decorations come down to be replaced by the never-ending Christmas decorations.

Christmas has always held a special place in my heart. It is equal parts a religious holiday and a celebration of life. Ever since I was a kid I have looked forward to Christmas and especially for the decorations.

When we were first married we had a small tree that could have been a long lost twin of the tree Charlie Brown found forlorn on the tree lot. It was more like a stump with a branch but it was the greatest tree in the world as far as I was concerned.

That ragged tree was replaced along the way with a beautiful flocked tree that we had for years. When we moved to Arizona we found that the flocking turned an ugly shade of yellow due to the heat of the Arizona summers.

The flocked tree was replaced by an amazing nine-foot tree that stood proudly in our living room. I was never content with just a few lights insisting on wrapping each branch of the tree with the light total somewhere in the 1,500 light vicinity.

It would literally take us three weeks to fully decorate that tree. Finally it just got to be too much work and Trina gave the tree to our oldest daughter when she got married. That is still a sore spot in our marriage since my daughter gave the tree to Goodwill and we were without a tree.

After a year’s hiatus I bought a new artificial tree. This one was 9.5 feet high and came “pre-lit”. I’m not exactly sure what I thought “pre-lit” meant but it wasn’t this. The tree does have lights but I think we spend more time troubleshooting the existing lights than we did wrapping the old tree.

Every year I swear this will be the last year for this tree and that next year I will get a new tree with energy efficient LED lights. And every year after Christmas I put this tree away along with a list of things to do when I get it out next year.

It is not just the tree though. Every year Trina makes a new craft item and it becomes part of the Christmas decorations. Our house when decorated is like a museum that chronicles the evolution of crafts.

There is the nylon era followed by the hot glue era. Then there is the beading dark ages and the plush era. Everywhere you turn there is a Christmas decoration and each of them has a story to tell.

When finished, the house sings of the times we have spent as a family and the countless hours Trina and the kids volunteered to create the special decorations.

Perhaps that is why I love Christmas so much. Each year as we pull the boxes of decorations out of the garage and transform our house we are reminded of all the wonderful times that have been spent throughout our lives. Those memories are brighter than the lights of the tree and beacon us all to the wonderful times we shared together.