The Tour of Ornaments

It's a beautiful morning today. The tree stayed relatively intact and upright (only 3 ornaments were found on the floor this morning!) and that brings a sense of inner peace. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground. I'd like more but we can't be too greedy now can we?  The coffee is fresh and the kitchen is nearly ready for another round of baking.

Meanwhile, because the tree stayed upright (Thank you Kittens!) here are the family ornaments! The last time we had the tree up was in 2004 when D's mother came for the holiday. She mentioned that we had different tree ornaments, some of which she's never seen before. D piped in immediately and said, "Don't get her started. She (meaning me) will tell you the history of every ornament on that tree--where it came from, how it came to be on the tree..everything!"

So in light of that comment---I give you the "Antique Santa." I don't know if it's antique or not but it was my mother's ornament when she was a child. Since I was her eldest born, it got passed to me. It's plastic and the paint is coming off now but holds an honored place at the top of the tree.  

 

Then I give you my personal favorites: No-Man and Christmas Mouse.  I made No-Man many years ago and the mouse came to me as a goody-bag special. It's held an honored spot on my trees ever since.  

 These are D's favorites. He likes snowmen. He likes fishing. 'Nuff said. 

 

This lollipop came from my child. I remember when it first graced the tree while we were stationed in Adana, Turkey back in early 1970. I was not quite nine years old when we first moved there.  

 I can remember these elves on the tree from when I was little-little. Back to the day when my youngest sister was a toddler. They don't make elves like this anymore.

 

 The apple on this tree came from D's sister J. She gave us a basket of ornaments our first Christmas together. 

This trio of ornaments have come from different places too! The rice-straw reindeer came from the Philippines (1976). It used to have a tassel on the bottom, but Jack The Rabbit took it off. The artist bear came from Albuquerque, New Mexico when my son was young. That's his smiling face at the age of 5 years in the picture (1992). The bell first graced the family tree while my family was stationed at Offutt AFB, Bellevue, Nebraska back in 1973. 

 

We also hang the hand-blown glass ornaments, the favorite being the angel. My mother collected these from various locations over the years. When she decided to split up her collection among all of us, I was blessed to receive the angel. 

Finally, we come to my gramma's Christmas Mouse and the Crafty Angel. My beloved grandmother gifted a trio of Christmas Mouse ornaments the year my son was born. They are a link to her that I treasure. The Crafty Angel joined our family when my son was 6 years old. We had actually wandered into a local craft show in Albuquerque back in 1993, I believe. He was so entranced with the arts and crafts being displayed, he begged us to buy something. We decided on a tree ornament. This angel was his choice. 

With any kind of luck, I can show you some of our other holiday decorations tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed seeing our tree!