Christmas is over and a new year is about to begin. About this time (December 31) I usually start gathering up the Christmas decorations. I try to put them all in one place as much as possible in preparation for returning them to storage. As I look at our Christmas tree and other decorations, I see a collection of memories more than anything else. Christmas Past I look in holiday magazines and see perfectly trimmed, color-coordinated, Christmas trees. Growing up, we never had that type of tree. We always had a real, needle dropping, dry but green tree decorated with various ornaments collected by…