Christmas Tree Ornaments and Decorations
How or when do you decide to buy or acquire new Christmas tree ornaments or decorations? Do you intentionally go shopping for them? Do you just buy them if you happen to see something that catches your eye? Do you make them yourself? Do you only use ornaments that have been gifted to you?
I have, at one time or another, fallen into each one of those categories. However, the one thing that I am always sure to do each year is to get or make an ornament that has some special meaning to me, in relation to something that happened during that year.
When we had a swimming pool put in our backyard, a friend gave me an ornament of a Santa in a hot tub.
When we moved to a new house, a friend gave me a “Welcome to your New Home” ornament.
We were even gifted an ornament of a Santa at a computer when we got our first computer!
We have the handprints of each grandchild in Plaster of Paris, a moose for the year we moved near Yosemite, and a silly Taco Bell dog that sings Feliz Navidad. We have seashell ornaments from a special trip to the beach, and a beautiful hand-painted disc made out of clay from the Galapagos.
Some of my favorite ornaments are the ones that Jennifer and Brian made for us. Like the coin rubbing Brian made when he was 8, or the little tiny egg carton wrapped in tin foil, tied with a red ribbon, which resembles a bell. We have a picture of Jennifer, surrounded by painted macaroni, and a handpainted angel made out of popsicle sticks.
I’m sentimental. I admit it. I look at each ornament every year, and say out loud where we got it or who gave it to us and why. Sometimes I’m the only one in the room when I am talking, but I do it anyway. I don’t want to forget. I’ve even taken pictures of all of the ornaments to make a photo book out of them one day.
One of my very favorite Christmas tree decorations isn’t a tree “ornament” at all. But I put it in the tree anyway. On a very sturdy branch.
It is a little rubber Santa Claus that belonged to my brother-in-law, Rob (my husband’s brother). He got it when he was about 8 years old, and it was always one of his favorites. He put it out every year, and everyone knew it was his. His favorite.
We lost Rob in 1991, and I was so happy to be gifted with his Santa. So putting his Santa in the tree is just one way that we remember him at Christmas time. Every time I look at this little Santa, I smile and remember Rob.
Here he is… that little Santa… right smack in the middle of MY Christmas Memories.
This isn’t a post about a new kit. This is a post about memories. So I’ll share about the kit on another day.
Do you have any ornaments that are special to you? Any special Christmas decorations? Or holiday traditions? Will you share with us?
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I love ornaments and I thought I would share a tradition I started over 40 years ago. Most of my nieces and nephews live some distance from me and I found a way to stay connected through sending them ornaments every year. I started the 1st year my 1st nephew was born sending him a first year ornament and it just kept going from there. He is now over 40 years old and I have a total of 13 nieces and nephews. I only missed one year because I was trying to make them myself and just couldn’t get them done. One of my nephews was 16 years old that year and he actually called me and said ” Aunt Lisa, aren’t you going to send our ornaments this year?” Sad face! It made me realize they really do appreciate them. I was going to stop as each of them got married but that same nephew got married and when he had his first baby the next year, he said ” Aunt Lisa, you ARE going to get ornaments for my kids aren’t you?” So the tradition rolls on! Now I have 13 nieces and nephews and 9 great nieces and nephews! It has been tough to get it all done every year but somehow I manage and they all love it! So do I. It’s something they will always remember! My oldest nephew is decorating his tree with nothing but the ornaments I have given him this year and he is going to send me a picture! Merry Christmas!
Oh my goodness. This is an amazing story, and what a wonderful, wonderful tradition!!!! SUCH a precious gift to each person. Please, please, copy and paste this on my FB page so others can read it there too! My blog post feeds right to my FB page, so you should be able to find the post easily. Thanks so much for sharing!
Besides the usual family ornaments we gather from year to year, I have a special ornament that means the world to me. I started working for The Stolle Corporation in 1973, it was bought out by Alcoa. I was a Quality Systems Writer and Auditor and retired from Alcoa in 1998 when it closed. We made large and small aluminum disks that went into hard drives of computers. Our plant manager had some painted and decorated for Christmas and all the managers signed the back. All those people were like family to me because I had worked with most of them for 25 yrs. I take it out each year and see the signatures and remember all the happy times we had working together!
I like the photo book idea of the ornaments and what they mean. So many of my ornaments have special meanings and I know that other family members may not remember the significance of each. I’m going to work on that idea this next year…
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