Yippee, it's a tree!
The tree is up! I dread that chore more each year, it seems, but once done, I am exceedingly glad I put forth the effort. I sit back and just gaze upon the wonder of it.
Every household it seems, has their own version of the Christmas tree. Some opt for aluminum, some like plastic, while others won’t have anything but real. Some like long needles, others like short. There are the flocked aficionados, and the purists, the garland lovers, and the ribbon people. Some like a “themed” tree or a monochromatic scheme. Some families think white lights are the only way to go. Some like multicolored, some prefer the blinking kind; others get fancy with “bubble lights” or exotic lighting solutions.
Christmas trees are very personal things, and mine is no exception. It’s evolved over the years from a time when there was no money for ornaments and I had to hand-craft them, to now, when I desperately search for just one more empty branch hang yet another bauble from a huge box overflowing with Christmas treasures. Here are a few of the cherished novelties that bedeck the tree in our home.
Egg Carton Bell circa 1979
You all have one of these, right, or some version of it. There must be a rule that the first ornament crafted by each kindergarten child is a bell. All you need is one section form an egg carton, some paint, and a pipe cleaner. A tiny jingle bell hangs inside and glitter adorns the exterior. Perfection achieved.
Kid-made ornaments are so precious. This ceramic angel was made by an angel who used to live at my house.
Kerry''s Angel
Homemade Santa
This crocheted Santa is evidence that once upon a time I had extra time to make things.
A simple hand-blown glass ball. There were six originally, but only three remain. I bought them in Germany more than 40 years ago. They were too beautiful to resist, but the only purchased ornaments we could afford for our poor little first tree. I made snowflakes from fringe dipped in starch and dried, and cut paper angels to keep them company.
Hand blown glass ornament form Germany
In 1985, our younger daughters’ elementary school was selling these ornaments for $5.00. Today, there’s not enough money in the world to buy this one.
Two elementary school flakes
From Naples With Love
This ornament came home with our daughter after her year in Naples as a foreign exchange student. Behind it is a snowman etched on clear glass, a gift from life-longs friends who still live up North. At the top is one from the grandson – a proud first grader then.
My Girl Scout troop was always looking to raise money to finance camping trips. One year we made a variety of Christmas ornaments to sell, like this beaded candy cane. I bought one of each kind, and still have them all.
Girl Scout Candy Cane
Made in Amana, IA
I bought this little clothespin doll in Amana, Iowa, during a visit to my mother. The following Christmas, she was in the hospital, dying.
You can’t go to one of the Disney parks without bringing home a souvenir. This is ours.
Greetings from Disney World
Last year, Tom, our Sonic-obsessed grandson decided we needed some original artwork for the tree.
Tom's Cartoons
Traditional Christmas Banana
When he was a baby, I bought this banana, plus five other pieces of fruit. I would hold him up and ask traditional holiday questions like, “Where’s the watermelon?” and he would gleefully point and answer, “Wa-mel-mo!”
Sadly, there are ornaments that aren’t on the tree anymore – the round plastic unbreakable ones we bought when the kids were toddlers, a few mass-produced plain glass balls we purchased to fill up the empty spaces in the early years before children, friends, and adventures had bestowed the wealth of ornamentation we have now. And, as the children have left the nest, I’ve tenderly packed and delivered “their” special ornaments – handmade or received as gifts, to serve as the base upon which to build their own Christmas traditions.
Come New Years Day, I’ll watch football and the Rose Parade, while I gently wrap each ornament in a piece of tissue or paper towel, and store it in my large compartmented box. Each year, I shed a tear or two as I lay each little trinket away. I wonder, will I be here to unpack them again, and what will things be like a year from now? This year’s a bit odd, what with the Mr. and I both jobless and all. I can’t help but hope that after a long and well-deserved rest, my little treasures will re-emerge to grace a tree that stands in a more solvent household. But whatever the future brings, the memories they hold will still be there – as bright and shiny as the day each was first hung on a piney branch.
Here’s wishing you and yours all the joys of the season. I’ll see you on Friday
