christmas tree {december 16, 2022}

When my kids were born, every year at Christmas my parents bought ornaments for them. When Dad died in 2002, Mom backed off the buying ornaments and instead downsized her Christmas ornaments by giving her grandchildren the majority of them, keeping a special few for her small tree. I picked up the yearly ornament buying tradition and by the time each child graduated from college and moved out of the house, he or she had a nice collection of ornaments to put on the tree.

I like to look at Old World Christmas for ornaments. Large assortment, nice quality, reliable and prompt  service. The other day an Old World Christmas ad popped up, giving advice on how to decorate a Christmas tree. 1) Group similar ornaments together. 2) Choose a theme. 3) Focus on cohesion. Hmmmm. I don't do any of those.

My tree tells my family's story. It's a walk down memory lane. 

Christmas tree 2022. The tree topper is a nice warm mitten that belonged to my dad when he was a young boy living in Chicago.

T had an old sweater that he liked to wear to get our daughters fired up. "Dad, that sweater is so old. Throw it away." After it wore out, I made ornaments out of it and gave one to each of the kids for their trees. It has a place of honor at the top of one of the daughter's tree.

One of the ornaments T and I bought before we were married. I was at his family's house after Christmas and his mom mentioned that DeHaven's, a very nice garden center, was having its after Christmas sale. We went there and bought a few ornaments in anticipation of our first Christmas tree.

f

A very special ornament for 2022 😊

My dad collected Waterford ornaments. Each year it is such a treat to take them out of their boxes. And then there's my little Dayton alligator. Quite a juxtaposition to the elegant Waterford egg.

In 1985, I had a curious 14 month old. My brother made some ornaments out of wood, I painted them, and put the ornaments on the lower branches for inquisitive little fingers.

My parents purchased this when they lived in Germany for a short while. Not many left from this collection.

To mark the turn into the new millennium.