Christmas Memories

When I was a little girl, my favorite part of Christmas was finding all of my ornaments and placing them on the tree. My grandmother bought each grandkid their own unique oranment each year. She marked each with our name and the date. It was such a special tradition...we couldn't wait to see our new ornament each year. So now my own tree is decorated with a mish-mosh of ornaments. None of them match but they all carry special meaning. This red and white bulb was one of my earliest ornaments. I can see that it's dated 1978 on the bottom. I was two years old.

When Hubby and I were engaged, he moved into the house we now share just before Christmas. As a surprise, I borrowed a rickety old tree from someone to put up while he was at work. We had no ornaments yet (all of mine were still on my mom's tree) so I had to improvise. I made strings of popcorn, hung candy canes, and begged 3 old ornaments off my mom. She couldn't remember where she got them and never put them on the tree. I still have the 3 red and white gingham ornaments on my tree to remember the days when we didn't have much.

In 1996, we were married. Our wedding colors were hunter green and gold and our theme was cherubs. I know...but you have to realize it was the 90s. We found these Christmas ornaments, which I fell in love with. We spray-painted them gold and included them in the centerpieces at the reception. Most of them have broken since but one remains to grace my tree each year.


When we were newly married with young kids, life was hard. Ends didn't always meet since I gave up my teaching salary to be a stay-at-home mom. We were still adjusting to sacrificing our own needs to be better spouses. Tension was high at times. A weekend at a marriage retreat was a life-changing time. Couples sat around a bonfire, sharing special moments with one another. All the husbands were asked to make a S'More for their wives. (Mine was burnt, but that's not the point.) It was romantic and revitalizing. After the retreat, Hubby and I found this S'Mores ornament at an Amish gift shop. So it now hangs on my tree to mark the change from hardships to bliss.

As life progressed from being single, honeymooners, and young parents to a having a large family, ornaments started revolving around children. My mom picked up the ornament tradition and started buying one for each of my kids every year. One year for Halloween, the 3 kids dressed up as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Cowerdly Lion. My amazing mom found these bread dough ornaments to signify that year. (The poor Lion broke.) They hang together on my tree to remind me of my sweet children (well, minus Baby Girl who wasn't born yet.)

But my all-time favorite ornament is because of a very early memory from my childhood. This little elf bell hung on our tree every year. It was my favorite. I always wanted to take it down and ring the bell. My mom wouldn't let me because it was old and fragile. It was from my great-grandmother. I remember getting upset because I thought the simple task of ringing a bell was something I could handle. So when I moved out, I stole the bell from my mom's tree. Don't worry, I informed her of the theft. I explained that it held so many memories for me and that I wanted to have it. She didn't argue. So it is the first ornament on the tree every year and has the most special spot. And no, I don't let my kids touch it. Too much meaning.