In Centerport: Christmas tree of memories

The 23 ornaments on the Arens family tree in Centerport don't glitter or glow, but they do resonate with Christmas memories.

Every year since 1988 the family has made one new ornament from a circular chunk of wood carved from the bottom of their live-cut holiday tree.

Each new ornament is engraved with a few words: Some years it's a wish for peace, in others, a commemoration of a family milestone.

The tradition began when Lois, 46, and Richard, 47, were newlyweds in Queens celebrating their first Christmas. They trekked out to a Cutchogue farm to cut down a live evergreen for their parlor.

"My father-in-law suggested cutting off a piece at the bottom of the tree that would make a nice ornament," Lois said.

So Richard, owner of Arens Brokerage Services in Manhattan, cut a coaster-sized hunk from the bottom of the evergreen with a handsaw, inscribed it with a wood-burning pen and finished it with shellac: "Rich, Lois, First Tree, 1988," with a heart icon between their names.

Ornament-making became an annual event, and four years later he inscribed the new one with "Twins' First Christmas." Danielle and Richard are now 18; she's a student at Ithaca College, and he's at Nassau Community College in Garden City.

An unexpected pre-Christmas delivery provided the opportunity for an ornament inscribed for Scott's first Christmas. "He was born a month early" - 15 years ago on Dec. 19 - Lois said of their younger son, a ninth grader at St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington.

"We always try to commemorate milestones," Lois says. The 2001 ornament commemorates the boat they bought that year, and the 2003 disk, the company Richard opened in Manhattan.

The family's moves to East Northport in 1993 and to Centerport four years ago each merited an ornament. And when there was no milestone to celebrate, "Peace and hope in the New Year" was inscribed.

Early on, the ornaments adorned a small tabletop tree. Last Christmas they were hung on birch branches in a tall vase. This year the accumulation of ornaments was enough to decorate a fresh-cut, 6-foot balsam fir for the first time.

On Thanksgiving weekend the family of five held their annual ornament conference, settling on a design capturing the spirit of this Christmas season. With no major milestone to commemorate, they chose "All You Need is Love-2010," the song they were listening to. The decorated tree stands in their den by a window overlooking Northport Bay.

In an e-mail, young Richard summed up his feelings about his family's unusual holiday tradition.

"The ornaments remind us of our life stages and changes from year to year and how important our family life is," he wrote. "Every year we grow together and come to appreciate the beauty of our family."