What a wonderful topic for a thread. I have a gazillion boxes of christmas tree ornaments. Many from my own adult years (I left home at 17....to join CA Fellowlaborers dontcha know?) and many from my family....my german born grandma left me boxes of beautiful hand blown german ornaments that are 100 years old now.
Just the other day, I was having this conversation with some folks in my office. I am single, childless, an only child......what do I do with these when I die? Who do I leave them to? Who can possibly cherish these old bits of glass....who can they be important too?
I love my Christmas things......my nativity set, the various stupid stuffed animals, the santa punch bowl and little santa mugs that my uncle would fill with killer egg nog and get everyone tipsy!
This is the first year I ever bought ornaments for my tree. Not sure why, cause I sure can't hang everything on it. But other than the few colored balls I bought this year and a couple of ornaments that were gifts, everything on my tree is handmade. We have tons of strings of beads, which we made with my mom when I was a kid. Some of them have broken, but I have kept the beads so I can re-string them with my boys when they get a year or two older.
We have wooden decorations that we painted as kids and styrofoam Santa and elves that my mom made.
So much stuff, so many memories to bring out every year.
I've only collected some ornaments since leaving TWI 6 years ago, so the supply is yet small, but mostly my kids home made ones and some my mother gave us the first year. LOVE those 1st grade home made ones!
I have one favorite that my husband gave me on our first christmas together in l982.
Hopefully I'll now be able to collect many for my children to use on their trees.
just about every one i take out, i stop and think about it. maybe that's why i didn't get the tree finished. and then all that christmas music in the background. i was by myself and mostly sat on the floor in tears.
We've got some sets from different years that we made with the kids and we've kept a few of each. Some flour and water paste ones. Couple of photo ornaments from about 12-13 years ago. More recent photo one (who's that old guy in the back??? ;)--> ) Little Winnie the Pooh on a sled.
Tigger. Mickie. Invader Zim. A bunch of the traditional rounds ones that are kind of cool designs. I can see 'em from here. The ones that always bring a lump to me t'roat are the ones that we made in a couple years when we didn't have a lot of dough and we managed to scrap enough together to get a tree and we made our own ornaments. :)--> Still don't have much dough- --> :D--> Watzupwiddat?
We've still got a couple of big tykes tucked away in bed sawing logs. Full of holiday snacks (erp!) from yesterday. It's a quiet morning. Cats are in, cheerily cleaning themselves. Merrrrrry Christmas!
I love hearing about all our your home-made ornaments and such....so much heart.
I have a bunch of little ornaments that came from various pet-food companys...send in your pet's name...get a free ornament, etc. They were always at the bottom of my trees so the cato or dog could look at them! :)-->
Exxie..thanks so much for not saying I should put my grandma's things up on e'bay! You have no idea how much I was afraid someone was gonna suggest that! -->
Anyway,,,,,I am so that so many of us still have Christmas things to cherish!
Growing up, our Christmas tree was always a treasure of "handmade" ornaments. (The kindergarten cotton-ball Santa was more precious to mom than the most expensive store-bought items.)
Mom would put a red bow on pieces of broken Christmas toys and hang them on the tree.
When brother Pete was in College, he got this huge branch that had been trimmed from one of the campus trees and wired it up in the living room. . .
I was so glad to get a tree after twi years.
From a Christmas email this year:
quote:THE FIRST LIGHTED CHRISTMAS TREE
It is to Germany that we owe our thanks for the
practice of lighting our Christmas Trees. The story goes that Martin Luther, walking home through the woods, of an early evening, saw a beautiful evergreen a bright star showing just at the tip of one of the branches.
He was so impressed with the lovely effect that he decided to bring such a tree indoors and
let his family decorate it with lights, in the form of candles, on the tips of the branches. the addition of lights and ornaments to a live tree, which the German people made a custom, has of course been adopted by other lands, most especially here in America.
Like Shellon, I've only been collecting ornaments since we left TWI. The area we lived in--no one had trees. We did put up a tree once or twice before we left, and we decorated with candy canes and curling ribbon.
I love birds, so I have quite a few cute bird ornaments now, given to me as gifts. Some are so cute I don't want to pack them away. I also have homemade ones from the kids.
I also have a collection of Yule candles, all holiday themed, candy canes and such.
My kids act like something we've had for three years is an old family heirloom!
Radar, I think when it becomes time to think about giving those treasures, there will be someone to receive them.
Our Christmas tree decorations are decidedly bottom-heavy-they generally go up as Holly can reach.........and that's ok with me. She rummaged thru the heretofore perfectly stored ornament box and hung what she fancied...I told her stories about the ones she picked and it was neat.
WHen it comes time to disassemble the spruce beastie, and ultimately to repack the ornaments in their proper anal arrangement for next year, I will probably spend time looking over the scores of others not hung and give them a secret promise that next year they will find a favored place. :)-->
A funny side note: Some years back, pre-Holly...I was the on-camera spokeperson for the Boto Company; they are the Hong Kong manufacturers of most all the US artifical trees. The subject of the video (which was included in most tree sales from Sears and K-Mart one year) was how to assemble and plush your tree so it looks as nice as the store displays...lololololol....the video was great, but I gotta tell you that every year our tree is a totally non-Martha approved assemblage of stuff and more stuff...I should watch my own video...lolol.
Another ~ secret: Hallmark's ornaments come out in July...I always look forward to that...the kids used to pick out one that could tell a story about us somehow...I usually got that one or two in the post holidaze sales.
Among my favorites is a Scrooge ornament and the attendant Tiny Tim. They are special because for 12 years we made a substantial amount of our income producing and performing A Christmas Carol. Ok, so the year these ornaments came out, our sons picked those two and superglued them together because they "could only pick one ornament" and after all was said and done "they were a team."
Oh yeah, and they superglued the things while in the store...but that's another story.
While several people I know do "theme" trees, color coordinated and hung with ornaments that are all one color or maybe just a couple of colors, ours is a hodge-podge of things made, inherited and picked up over the years.
There are a couple of faded glass bells, the first ornaments I remember on our tree when I was a child. When My mother went to all red balls or whatever, I rescued them.
There is a Rudolph face that my son made in 2nd grade. There is a cookie monster someone gave him that his own son discovered Christmas morning - "cookie" "cooookkkiiiee!"
There are ornaments my mother gave me that are hand painted, and some I picked up at an antique shop that are just, well, different!
The ones on the lower 2 1/2 feet of the tree are all soft or wood or something unbreakable. I got two this year that are big bells with wings and beaks attached, painted to look like a chicadee and a blue jay. Grandson thinks they are toys.
Maybe someday I'll have a theme tree. All pale golden ornaments with tiny white sparkle lights. But the one the baby will remember has a wooden "tree" ornament decorated with paint pens, glitter and buttons by his grandfather, a cookie monster that used to be his dad's, and a string of felt cut out toys from me. That's all that matters.
It's been so much fun reading about everyone's special ornaments!
My first Christmas away from home I was so poor that I couldn't afford a tree or ornaments.
My friends/co-workers at a restaurant took me to an "all you can eat scallop dinner" and we saved all the shells from the dinner. I cleaned them up good and used a borrowed hot glue gun to put red ribbons on them.
My office closed 2 days before Christmas and the company handy man brought the tree from the office to my apt and since i didn't have a stand we leaned it up in the corner.
I decorated that tree with my scallop shells and 2 starfish decorations I bought at a dollar store.
I still have one of each of those to remind me of where I came from. They are my most precious ornaments and now that I'm out of TWI I look forward to adding more precious memories like that to my tree.
Belle said: "My friends/co-workers at a restaurant took me to an "all you can eat scallop dinner" and we saved all the shells from the dinner. I cleaned them up good and used a borrowed hot glue gun to put red ribbons on them"
=============================================
I love this! What a great memory ( I hope ).
The first christmas Bob and I were together, there was no money for a tree, so we borrowed this and that from others and he fashioned a tree shape on our first apartment wall. It remains my favorite tree yet.
Of all the amazing trees one can purchase and decorate, this was the most beautiful.
I couldn't tell you much of what was on any of the rest of them, but I can describe this one, 22 years later, exactly.
It IS a great memory, Shellon! And warms my heart every time I think about it. I only wish I hadn't given up those friends for TWIts who wouldn't have done anything like that for me.
I love your memory of your first Christmas with Bob. What a kind heart to take such care and effort to make sure y'all had a Christmas tree.
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Radar OReilly
Exxie,
What a wonderful topic for a thread. I have a gazillion boxes of christmas tree ornaments. Many from my own adult years (I left home at 17....to join CA Fellowlaborers dontcha know?) and many from my family....my german born grandma left me boxes of beautiful hand blown german ornaments that are 100 years old now.
Just the other day, I was having this conversation with some folks in my office. I am single, childless, an only child......what do I do with these when I die? Who do I leave them to? Who can possibly cherish these old bits of glass....who can they be important too?
I love my Christmas things......my nativity set, the various stupid stuffed animals, the santa punch bowl and little santa mugs that my uncle would fill with killer egg nog and get everyone tipsy!
I love each and every ridiculous knicknac!
Merry Christmas!
ror
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Abigail
This is the first year I ever bought ornaments for my tree. Not sure why, cause I sure can't hang everything on it. But other than the few colored balls I bought this year and a couple of ornaments that were gifts, everything on my tree is handmade. We have tons of strings of beads, which we made with my mom when I was a kid. Some of them have broken, but I have kept the beads so I can re-string them with my boys when they get a year or two older.
We have wooden decorations that we painted as kids and styrofoam Santa and elves that my mom made.
So much stuff, so many memories to bring out every year.
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Shellon
I've only collected some ornaments since leaving TWI 6 years ago, so the supply is yet small, but mostly my kids home made ones and some my mother gave us the first year. LOVE those 1st grade home made ones!
I have one favorite that my husband gave me on our first christmas together in l982.
Hopefully I'll now be able to collect many for my children to use on their trees.
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excathedra
wow radar what treasures !!!!!
abi, ALL handmade, i'm speechless
shell, your supply is small but huge with love
just about every one i take out, i stop and think about it. maybe that's why i didn't get the tree finished. and then all that christmas music in the background. i was by myself and mostly sat on the floor in tears.
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excathedra
dear radar, we don't know what the future holds
--
awwwww the little santa mugs
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WhiteDove
Excathedra- At least you got your out!!
I have collected hundreds of ornaments since the 70s. but they are still sitting in boxes in the attic. SIGH I just did not see the point.
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socks
Merry Christmas!
We've got some sets from different years that we made with the kids and we've kept a few of each. Some flour and water paste ones. Couple of photo ornaments from about 12-13 years ago. More recent photo one (who's that old guy in the back???
;)--> ) Little Winnie the Pooh on a sled.
Tigger. Mickie. Invader Zim. A bunch of the traditional rounds ones that are kind of cool designs. I can see 'em from here. The ones that always bring a lump to me t'roat are the ones that we made in a couple years when we didn't have a lot of dough and we managed to scrap enough together to get a tree and we made our own ornaments.
:)--> Still don't have much dough- 
--> 
:D--> Watzupwiddat?
We've still got a couple of big tykes tucked away in bed sawing logs. Full of holiday snacks (erp!) from yesterday. It's a quiet morning. Cats are in, cheerily cleaning themselves. Merrrrrry Christmas!
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Radar OReilly
I love hearing about all our your home-made ornaments and such....so much heart.
I have a bunch of little ornaments that came from various pet-food companys...send in your pet's name...get a free ornament, etc. They were always at the bottom of my trees so the cato or dog could look at them!
:)-->
Exxie..thanks so much for not saying I should put my grandma's things up on e'bay! You have no idea how much I was afraid someone was gonna suggest that!
-->
Anyway,,,,,I am so that so many of us still have Christmas things to cherish!
ror
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Steve!
Radar - have you thought about Ebay?
I think that you should bequeath them to children of a good friend, so that they will be cherished.
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excathedra
she is seriously too young to even think about that
we have no idea who someone special she will be with in her future which always means other special people
people have babies at all ages these days
people adopt
people marry people with children. i know you wouldn't have thought of that stevie
;)-->
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Kit Sober
Growing up, our Christmas tree was always a treasure of "handmade" ornaments. (The kindergarten cotton-ball Santa was more precious to mom than the most expensive store-bought items.)
Mom would put a red bow on pieces of broken Christmas toys and hang them on the tree.
When brother Pete was in College, he got this huge branch that had been trimmed from one of the campus trees and wired it up in the living room. . .
I was so glad to get a tree after twi years.
From a Christmas email this year:
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Bramble
Like Shellon, I've only been collecting ornaments since we left TWI. The area we lived in--no one had trees. We did put up a tree once or twice before we left, and we decorated with candy canes and curling ribbon.
I love birds, so I have quite a few cute bird ornaments now, given to me as gifts. Some are so cute I don't want to pack them away. I also have homemade ones from the kids.
I also have a collection of Yule candles, all holiday themed, candy canes and such.
My kids act like something we've had for three years is an old family heirloom!
Radar, I think when it becomes time to think about giving those treasures, there will be someone to receive them.
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excathedra
awwww you "guys" are so wonderful
thank you for posting that dear kit
bramble, i have a few ornaments in my curio (sp?) cabinet all year 'round because i just can't put them away
how sweet about your kids. my son is the same.
and i'm in total agreement with what you said to radar
love,ex
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excathedra
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MATILDA
Our Christmas tree decorations are decidedly bottom-heavy-they generally go up as Holly can reach.........and that's ok with me. She rummaged thru the heretofore perfectly stored ornament box and hung what she fancied...I told her stories about the ones she picked and it was neat.
WHen it comes time to disassemble the spruce beastie, and ultimately to repack the ornaments in their proper anal arrangement for next year, I will probably spend time looking over the scores of others not hung and give them a secret promise that next year they will find a favored place.
:)-->
A funny side note: Some years back, pre-Holly...I was the on-camera spokeperson for the Boto Company; they are the Hong Kong manufacturers of most all the US artifical trees. The subject of the video (which was included in most tree sales from Sears and K-Mart one year) was how to assemble and plush your tree so it looks as nice as the store displays...lololololol....the video was great, but I gotta tell you that every year our tree is a totally non-Martha approved assemblage of stuff and more stuff...I should watch my own video...lolol.
Another ~ secret: Hallmark's ornaments come out in July...I always look forward to that...the kids used to pick out one that could tell a story about us somehow...I usually got that one or two in the post holidaze sales.
Among my favorites is a Scrooge ornament and the attendant Tiny Tim. They are special because for 12 years we made a substantial amount of our income producing and performing A Christmas Carol. Ok, so the year these ornaments came out, our sons picked those two and superglued them together because they "could only pick one ornament" and after all was said and done "they were a team."
Oh yeah, and they superglued the things while in the store...but that's another story.
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Watered Garden
While several people I know do "theme" trees, color coordinated and hung with ornaments that are all one color or maybe just a couple of colors, ours is a hodge-podge of things made, inherited and picked up over the years.
There are a couple of faded glass bells, the first ornaments I remember on our tree when I was a child. When My mother went to all red balls or whatever, I rescued them.
There is a Rudolph face that my son made in 2nd grade. There is a cookie monster someone gave him that his own son discovered Christmas morning - "cookie" "cooookkkiiiee!"
There are ornaments my mother gave me that are hand painted, and some I picked up at an antique shop that are just, well, different!
The ones on the lower 2 1/2 feet of the tree are all soft or wood or something unbreakable. I got two this year that are big bells with wings and beaks attached, painted to look like a chicadee and a blue jay. Grandson thinks they are toys.
Maybe someday I'll have a theme tree. All pale golden ornaments with tiny white sparkle lights. But the one the baby will remember has a wooden "tree" ornament decorated with paint pens, glitter and buttons by his grandfather, a cookie monster that used to be his dad's, and a string of felt cut out toys from me. That's all that matters.
WG
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Belle
It's been so much fun reading about everyone's special ornaments!
My first Christmas away from home I was so poor that I couldn't afford a tree or ornaments.
My friends/co-workers at a restaurant took me to an "all you can eat scallop dinner" and we saved all the shells from the dinner. I cleaned them up good and used a borrowed hot glue gun to put red ribbons on them.
My office closed 2 days before Christmas and the company handy man brought the tree from the office to my apt and since i didn't have a stand we leaned it up in the corner.
I decorated that tree with my scallop shells and 2 starfish decorations I bought at a dollar store.
I still have one of each of those to remind me of where I came from. They are my most precious ornaments and now that I'm out of TWI I look forward to adding more precious memories like that to my tree.
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Shellon
Belle said: "My friends/co-workers at a restaurant took me to an "all you can eat scallop dinner" and we saved all the shells from the dinner. I cleaned them up good and used a borrowed hot glue gun to put red ribbons on them"
=============================================
I love this! What a great memory ( I hope ).
The first christmas Bob and I were together, there was no money for a tree, so we borrowed this and that from others and he fashioned a tree shape on our first apartment wall. It remains my favorite tree yet.
Of all the amazing trees one can purchase and decorate, this was the most beautiful.
I couldn't tell you much of what was on any of the rest of them, but I can describe this one, 22 years later, exactly.
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Belle
It IS a great memory, Shellon! And warms my heart every time I think about it. I only wish I hadn't given up those friends for TWIts who wouldn't have done anything like that for me.
I love your memory of your first Christmas with Bob. What a kind heart to take such care and effort to make sure y'all had a Christmas tree.
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