Something of sentiment…
Christmas time is about sentiment. It’s about emotion. It’s about tradition.
I pulled out our Christmas decorations on Monday afternoon. They sat boxed up in the corner, waiting for me to open them, until Tuesday evening. I was dreading this event. I wasn’t really looking forward to pulling them out of their boxes and having to dig through them. Not because of the hassle involved in unwrapping and unboxing each and every tiny ornament. Not because I knew I would have to untangle the hundreds of ornament hooks that hastily got thrown into a ziplock bag last year. Not because I assumed I would be fighting with a toddler for the chance to actually place them on the tree. But because of the overwhelming emotion that I have when decorating a Christmas tree.
In 1999 my Granny started a collection. A beautiful, elaborate, and extensive collection of Christmas ornaments for my sister, my cousin, and me. She looked every year for the perfect ornament and purchased one that matched for each of us. Every year, we went to her house {typically the weekend after Thanksgiving} and decorated her tree with the ornaments she had purchased us. We each had to use our own ornaments, with the understanding that we couldn’t take them home. We had to leave them with her every year until she died. Then, after she was gone, we would each have our own collection of ornaments for our own tree when we got married.
She passed away during the summer of 2004. And now, being the only one that is married and out on my own, I have my ornament collection. I pulled them out very carefully Tuesday night. Each one means something. Each one has a significance. Each one has a purpose and a place in my heart. Sounds cheesy, right? I get a little emotional decorating the tree. Maybe I’m just a baby. Or maybe, I’m just that sentimental about things. I sat there in the chair, unboxing my decorations, and I could almost hear my Granny standing there with me, talking about where she found the newest addition to our collection or bossing orders about how she wants the tree to look.
It’s a tradition that’s carried on over the past 5 years. My mom continues to buy new ornaments for my sister and me. Even hubby gets ornaments. {And has since Christmas of 2007-our first Christmas as a couple…and only 2 months after we had begun dating.} And now, Noah has his own collection in the works. So, for the sake of this post, I have taken some pictures of some of the most sentimental ornaments on my tree this year.
This is one that was hand made by my grandmother. She made dozens of these things and sold a bunch of them at craft shows she and her sisters went to during the holidays. But there were several left. They all got divided up and I ended up with 4…2 stockings and 2 Christmas trees.
This one, with the teddy bear, is from 1992. You used to could purchase the like 60-something count box of Crayola Crayons in a collectors Christmas tin, and it {surprise surprise} came with an ornament. My granny used to buy one for all of her grand-daughters every single year. Though, I never understood why because she didn’t really even want us to color with them. This is the ornament that came from the first box that she ever bought me.
This is first ornament that went into the collection after my grandmother passed away. My mom picked it out to carry out the “cookies & candy” ornament kick my grandmother had gotten into the year before. It’s actually one of my very favorite decorations, just because it really looks good enough to eat. 🙂
Can you guess what this one is for? This is the very first ornament in Noah’s personal collection. Purchased by both of his Grandmothers last year [yes, out of all of the ‘baby’s first Christmas’ decorations out there, his grandmothers both picked out the exact same one.] He is getting the number “2” for this Christmas to go with it.
This “Noah’s Ark” ornament I found on sale last year at Family Christian for about $2.00. I had to get it. Noah=Noah’s Ark…yea. You get it.
And this…
this is the first matching ornament for our collection. Josh, Noah, and I all have one of these. This was the very first ornament we all 3 received.
These are just a few of the little things that matter the most to me during the holidays. All of our ornaments are dated, so we can keep track of where they came from and how old they are. One day, when hubby and I are gone, we will pass these onto our kid(s). [Hopefully, I will have a daughter, or atleast a wonderful daughter in law who will cherish these and carry on the tradition] But for now, I will keep my sentiments on our tree, and look at them and smile at the memories. Smile at the traditions, smile at the future knowing that I will continue to build our own collection and our own memories over the years.
[…] few years ago (back in 2009 actually) I wrote a post about Christmas Ornaments and how sentimental I am about them. It was a tradition my Grandmother started back before she passed away; one of the things that our […]