All about the tree: Christmas trees central to holiday traditions
Among those who celebrate Christmas, the tree is a shared symbol of loved ones joining together, and each family is bound to have their own twist on the Christmas tree tradition.
Take Regan Borso and her siblings, who woke up every Christmas morning to a live Christmas tree delivered and fully decorated by 鈥� they were told 鈥� Santa Claus.
Borso, of Eighty Four, is now 23. She recalled how the artificial tree would be replaced by the live tree overnight, complete with presents underneath.
Turns out Borso鈥檚 father 鈥� one of Santa鈥檚 鈥渉elpers鈥� 鈥� was responsible for the overnight transformation.
鈥淗e loved going through all the effort of doing it, because he loved seeing the look on our faces Christmas morning when we woke up and there was a real tree downstairs,鈥� Borso said.
It鈥檚 a tradition that Mike Borso borrowed from his own father. Regan said he somehow managed to keep the tree hidden in the garage before each Christmas.
鈥淢y mom, she was always good at keeping us distracted,鈥� she said.
Somehow Regan, her older brother and little sister were able to sleep through their dad setting up not just the tree, but multiple sets of train tracks running around it.
When they woke up, they knew immediately Santa had visited.
鈥淚 never, not once, heard any commotion. I could always tell Santa came when I could smell the pine. The smoke from the trains he would run Christmas morning, you could kind of smell it coming up the stairs early in the morning,鈥� Regan said.
Now that the truth is out, the Christmas Eve tree is a Borso family affair. Regan and her siblings help their dad with the tree every year, and plan to keep the tradition going.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something I鈥檒l do with my kids, too,鈥� Regan said.
For Darlene Taylor, decorating trees is always an exciting part of the holidays. She even puts up a tree for Easter at her home in Houston, and this year decorated a Halloween tree.
After Thanksgiving, the Christmas trees start going up. The many, many Christmas trees.
鈥淪ometimes we鈥檝e had 12 or more. As the family has grown, we cut that down a little bit,鈥� Taylor said.
Still, there are several trees set up at her home for the Christmas season. All with different themes.
One is adorned with common kitchen objects, like colanders, while another is a 鈥渇irefighter tree,鈥� as her husband and son are both volunteer firefighters.
There is a patriotic tree, a tree decorated with real crystals, and, of course, the family tree.
鈥淭he old-fashioned tree has things we have made, the kids have made, people have given us and passed down from our parents and stuff. All different kinds of ornaments on it. My husband puts the lights on it himself; there are over 1,600 lights on it,鈥� Taylor said.
Taylor鈥檚 four grandchildren are sure to bring her several ornaments, and she confesses she may be running out of room.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 going to do. This big, old tree is getting weighed down. Every year I get five or six ornaments to find room for,鈥� Taylor said.
Some families are still early into building their own traditions.
Clayton LaPosta, of Claysville, has two sons ages 4 and 8 months. Each year he and his wife take their kids to get a live Christmas tree at Candle Tree Farm, and then stop to allow the kids to pick out ornaments for the tree.
鈥淲e have a lot of decorations that were my grandparents鈥� that we just kind of inherited. A hodgepodge of super old ornaments,鈥� LaPosta said.
They exist side by side with newer ornaments of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Paw Patrol.
鈥淲hatever my boys are into that year,鈥� LaPosta said. 鈥淭his year, it was Minions.鈥�
Many of the older decorations belonged to his grandmother. When his family bought and moved into her old home, they found all of the decorations in the attic.
That includes an angel tree topper that belonged to her mother.
鈥淭he angel we put on top, it was my great-grandmother鈥檚. It鈥檚 kind of ugly,鈥� LaPosta said with a laugh.
It is an emotional experience to go through the old ornaments, while also seeing his children鈥檚 rapidly changing interests reflected in the new ones.
鈥淚t takes you back to Christmas past with folks that aren鈥檛 here anymore. Then, I look at the ornaments from my kids just to see them growing up, so quickly,鈥� LaPosta said.