My mother loves Christmas trees and ornaments. Everywhere she travels, she looks for an interesting ornament. When we travel to new and interesting places, that is one gift that will always please her. Her only desire is that the ornament has a date on it. I never thought much about it at the time, but I am grateful for it now. Each time I look at one, I know for sure what time of life we acquired it, where we were, what we were doing, etc.
When I married, my mother gave me "my" ornaments to put on my own tree. My mother in law gave my husband the ones she considered his. I love our joint decorations, even when they sometimes don't quite match. (My mother would have never considered having a talking Borg ship ornament, for example!) My favorite is the simple glass ball with my name written on the side and the date on the back. It's not particularly pretty- in fact, it's in sad shape- but my first grade teacher gave it to me. I think of Mrs.Criggers every time I put it up. My husband made many of his ornaments, and it brings back happy family memories.
Decorating the tree each year is a beautiful trip down memory lane. I remember who gave me the ornaments and think fondly of them. I may no longer be in touch with the person who gave it to me, but I remember them and hope they are happy and well wherever they have ended up in the world. Turning on the Christmas music and decorating the tree is one of the most joyful parts of the Christmas season for me.
1 comment:
This is exactly why I am opposed to "decorator trees." I love the memories that are attached to the various ornaments. One of my favorites is a crocheted Santa face. An old lady named Mrs. Beard from our church made it for me when I was about 4. I don't really remember much about her, but I do remember that she loved me and my sister.
I wish we had a mixed collection of memorable ornaments, but my in-laws went on an anti-Christmas kick when my husband was a kid. He has no ornaments, and it made him really sad a few years ago when we were decorating our tree full of MY ornaments. So I found a bunch of Hallmark Star Wars ornaments on Ebay, bid on them, and won. He now has his own little Star Wars tree, and he just loves it! Your comment about a talking Borg ornament made me think of that!
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