It was a tradition started by our next door neighbor, whom we affectionately called NaNa, when I was probably only about 6 or 7 years old. She selected a special, albeit inexpensive, ornament for her granddaughter, my sister and me every year. My mother quickly adopted the same practice. So, by the time I was grown and started my own tree, I already had quite a collection.
Of course, some of those early additions have not survived the years. But, I still have many of them and they all have a special place in my heart. Among them....
There are a couple of ornaments that I clearly remember making. This wooden candy cane was my effort when our fifth grade class painted ornaments to decorate the class tree.
And this beaded candy cane was made in a missions class at church about the same time.
I was fortunate enough to find a box containing a few of my grandparents' ornaments after my grandmother passed away. They are among my favorites!
Our tree may be a hodgepodge of many different types and style of ornaments, but it is filled with wonderful memories. I get a warm, fuzzy feeling just unwrapping the ornaments and placing them among the branches each year.
Every once in a while, I toy with the idea of starting fresh and decorating a tree with a specific, cohesive theme or color scheme.....but, it's always a fleeting idea!
How about your family's tree? Do you have some of those priceless, irreplaceable and sentimental ornaments like I do? I would love to hear about it if you do!
And now for lots of vintage inspiration, I am linking with Debra at "Common Ground" for "Vintage Inspiration Friday". If you love the use of older ornaments and such when decorating for the holidays, I guarantee you will be blown away!
Relishing the moment....
Jane
I love that tradition of getting a special ornament each year. I've been doing that with my son and I put a sticker on the back of the ornament that tells us what year he picked it out.
ReplyDeleteI have a very eclectic tree also. I always envy the people that do a theme, but it just doesn't seem like Christmas without all my ornaments from years ago on it.
So nice. They just don't make the ornaments like they used to years ago do they. My mother has some really beautiful ones. I remember one of hers was a tiny glass violin complete with all the strings.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful collection of memories you have on your tree! It's great that you've kept these ornaments all along, bringing them back every year to re-live special times. We do that too - just this morning I was thinking that it won't be long until our kids are old enough to move out and take their ornament collections with them. That will certainly be a strange year in our house!
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, your tree is so lovely, full of wonderful memories and treasures, just what makes Christmas so special! Thanks for linking up for VIF!
ReplyDeletebig hugs,
Debra