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In the house I grew up in, decorating the tree was done as close to Christmas Day as possible. We did not decorate the tree until then because that is closest to Jesus's birthday. The celebration is Christmas Day and the days after that-like in the song the Twelve Days of Christmas. My brother, sister and I have our own box of ornaments. Each ornament is marked with a square of masking tape on the back with a number on it. I was number 2 since I was the second born. We were responsible for putting our ornaments on the tree the day before Christmas. Then we would go to the late service at church. When we came home from church it was past midnight and we were tired, but the tree looked so lovely now decorated and lights twinkling. Off to bed we would go dreaming of presents, and the wonderful smells of Christmas dinner filling the house early in the morning. When each of us got married, we were given our box or ornaments to take ...