Oyster ornaments with crushed glass accents. Christmas decorations at Southern Avenue in Covington, photographed Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019.

Oyster ornaments with crushed glass accents. Christmas decorations at Southern Avenue in Covington, photographed Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019. Glass Bottle Crafts

As we decorated the house for Christmas this month, I made sure a bottle of glue was close at hand. We pack our decorations carefully each year, but time takes its toll on treasures that, in some cases, are older than I am. Inevitably, as we lift Yuletide baubles from the boxes, I find at least one piece that needs mending.

This year, an iron candle stand shaped like an angel lost its wings. After a dollop of adhesive, she was once again ready to soar with the seraphim.

Part of my family lore includes a December about a half a century ago when someone — I think it was a boisterous brother — accidentally knocked one of the Magi from our living room Nativity scene, the poor wise man losing his head in the bargain. There was a mad dash to reapply the king’s noggin before our mother could discover the crime.

Each December, as I refasten some missing fringe to a vintage ornament or gently refurbish a faded creche, I marvel at how fragile Christmas can be. It’s a wonder that this gossamer season, spun from bits of felt and balsa, strands of tinsel and glass as thin as eggshells, has managed to survive. There must be something tender and abiding in the human spirit that we can carry a thing as delicate as Christmas across the centuries, passing its velvet magic from hand to hand, its essence enduring intact.

One of my family’s favorite holiday movies is “The Gathering,” a 1977 production that stars Ed Asner as an aloof engineer who decides, after facing a health crisis, that he should assemble his estranged family for a Yuletide reconciliation. As he waits for grown children to arrive from afar, Asner’s troubled patriarch and his wife, played by Maureen Stapleton, haul long-neglected Christmas relics from the attic and restore them to their former glory — replacing bulbs on an old string of lights, brightening the faded luster of an heirloom ornament.

As the father goes about his work, one gathers that he’s repairing more than the household trimmings. He’s also taking a stab at repairing his soul, a latter-day Scrooge bent on spiritual renewal.

“The Gathering” has resonated with generations of viewers because most of us have personal failings we’d like to fix, especially in a season grounded in moral reflection. I’ve found, as I get older, that the familiar Christmas question of childhood, “Have I been a good boy?,” has acquired a deeper dimension. Was I good person this year? In this Christmas, as in others, the answer seems mixed. In such an anxious time for the country and the world, I could have done more to make things better.

Upon such awareness, next week’s New Year’s resolutions will be built. For now, though, I’ll welcome Christmas, embracing its endless promise that all things broken can once again be whole.

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.

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