By KATIE EWER
katie@du2.byu.edu
The Christmas tree is one of the major symbols of Christmas, but what is it that makes it so special?
Sure, it's under the Christmas tree where you'll usually find the presents, but the tree also has some meaning in and of itself.
I grew up anticipating the day we could put up our Christmas tree. My family purchased a fresh tree every year, and we decorated it with mismatched ornaments we had made in school or received as gifts. But silly as it sometimes looked, we loved that tree.
Then one year my mother decided she wanted a tree that matched her living room. The living room is blue. She bought an artificial blue spruce, blue and white lights, and blue and white ornaments. The tree was beautiful, and everything matched perfectly.
My brothers and sister and I had a fit. How could we have Christmas without our ugly, elementary-school ornaments?
My mother received a lot of harassment that year. She finally gave in and we bought another tree we could decorate the way we always did and we put up in the family room.
Now we decorate two trees every year. But what's the big deal? Does it really make that much of a difference what kind of decorations you have on your tree?
Mary Mecham, 20, a sophomore from Salt Lake City, majoring in family science, said her parents have Nordstrom employees set up and decorate a 20-foot tree in their house every year.
'The tree is pretty and it all matches, but I feel like I'm walking through the Festival of Trees,' Mecham said.
Mecham said when she has a family of her own, she wants her kids to be able to pick out the tree and help decorate it.
'My family will have a real tree with all the tacky, non-matching ornaments,' she said.
Jeanette Kunz, 22, a senior from Anaheim, Calif., majoring in humanities, said her family still decorates their tree with ornaments she made when she was five.
Kunz said she doesn't like it when trees look like they are bought already put together.
'I like the homey ones with popcorn strings and candy canes,' Kunz said.
She said decorating the tree as a family is part of the true beauty of a Christmas tree.
'It's about love and time,' Kunz said. 'It's about getting more tinsel on your brother than you get on the tree. It's about bonding moments and happy memories you can laugh about later.'
Jeff Furgo, 22, a junior from Mission Viejo, Calif., majoring in music, said he found it traumatic when his mother threw out the old stockings for new ones to match the living room.
So maybe the tree isn't just a shelter for brightly wrapped packages. Apparently, the tree comes to mean something about families, love and Christmas nostalgia.
For me, the tree with the non-matching ornaments became a symbol of childhood memories. And now that my childhood is gone, I don't want to ever let go of what can bring those precious memories back.