December in the Auvergne - decorating the tree

One of my favorite Latvian Christmas carols, “Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,” is an ode to the Christmas tree. It sings of the beauty of the evergreen, and of the peace, light and happiness it brings into the home, be it a castle or a hut. Our beautiful tree has been gracing our living room for over a week now and although the lights were in place soon after its arrival, only a few days ago did we finally hang the decorations.

Lauris helped. Then he un-helped for a bit before helping again. So far there have only been a handful of casualties, and one of them occurred while a certain blogger was attempting to take a few pictures of the ornaments.

When the Christmas tree originally arrived, it proved to be a little taller than our ceiling, so a good meter was cut off. I finally used the last of the cut branches for a garland. This is our first home that has a fireplace, and therefore an ideal location for the Christmas stockings (which will possibly merit another post as I have yet to hang them), the advent wreath, a garland and our numerous holiday knick-knacks and candles.

As we listened to Christmas music, hung ornaments and drank our hot chocolate, I set aside one single decoration: our angel tree topper. It will wait patiently on the shelf until Roberts gets home to place it.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tu patstāvīga esi:

Tu zaļo ziemas aukstumā,

Tāpat kā vasar’s karstumā.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tu patstāvīga esi.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tu manim patikt vari:

No Ziemassvētku eglītes

Man spīd daudz gaišas svecītes.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tu manim patikt vari.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tavs apģērbs man ko māca:

Patstāvība un cerība

Dod spēku skumjā nestundā.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Tavs apģērbs man ko māca.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Cik skaista tug an esi:

Tu grezno pilis, būdiņas,

Nes visur mieru, līksmību.

Ak, eglīte, ak, eglīte,

Cik skaista tu gan esi!