It’s the first Christmas without my mother, so I’ve got mixed feelings about the holiday. Last Christmas was stressful because she’d been ill since August and still hadn’t returned to her usual spunk. This year without her will be sad, but I’ll look back on my memories with her to get me through.

When we divvied up Mom’s belongings, I wanted two things for sure: her homemade ornaments, which she made before, during, and after we were growing up, and her dining room table, which was procured by my dad in 1972 as an “I’m sorry I got you pregnant again” present. The table and chairs were antiques back then, which came from Seattle and my dad bought through an ad in the local newspaper. Apparently, the table didn’t fit in the old owner’s new house. My dad bought the set for $150.

I got the table, two of the chairs that survived, and the ornaments. But due to having an asshole cat, I can’t put the ornaments out until he and my son move out, or he dies. Since my son just turned 18 and is in school, it could be a while before he moves out. So what was I to do about this year’s theme for a tree? I shared in the past my love of ornaments follows my love of books quite closely. I’ve had many themes over the years: Winnie the Pooh, Coca Cola, Peanuts with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, a tree made entirely of religious ornaments like crosses and nativities, and of course, a Green Bay Packers tree. I asked my middle daughter what I should do this year and she thought Coca Cola because it has been about ten years since I used those ornaments. I at first agreed, but then had a little epiphany. I decided to pay tribute to the other motherly figure in my life: Queen Elizabeth II.

So with a quick search on Etsy and the Buckingham Palace gift shop website, I procured ornaments paying tribute to the queen, horse riding, and corgis. Much like my America tree that I’ve put up many times over the years (click here for 2020’s tree), I grabbed some British flags off of Amazon, my pearl garland and a crown tree top. Voila!

Happy Christmas to my readers and friends in America and across the pond!