I'm too behind to catch up with the challenge, so I have decided to do my own. Someday I hope that my sons will take a look at what their mother did on 365. I hope this journal will remind them of all the old stories. Boys are so very different than girls - they don't hold on to the past in the same ways. One day they will want a gentle reminder of what all of these things are - and I hope they will find it here.
This ornament is among the oldest on the tree. These plastic animals were bought by my parents in 1951, the year that I was born. I think something has to be 50 years old to qualify as an antique! They have been faithfully hung on the tree every year since then. I have never outgrown them. I know that some folks decorate a tree in all blue or all angels. I decorate my tree with my past. I have ornaments sold at church bazaars from my childhood (and I know the name of the Saint that made them), ones that the boys made for my folks as presents, ornaments made by an aunt long gone, and so many that Tom and I have bought, with love, over all of our 31 Christmases together. I love that nothing matches the one next to it and that each has it's own story. Every year now I cry when we put the tree up - I have my little Christmas melt down. The holidays are a difficult time, when all of the memories of the ones that I miss are waiting to be unwrapped in the ornament boxes. And what that really means is that I was blessed with two incredible people that always showed me how much I was loved. So I honestly don't mind the tears. I hope that we are doing a good job making memories for all of the little ones that will find presents under this Christmas tree.
That is such a beautiful story of your tree and what each and every ornament means to you Cathy..... How special to have built that up over a lifetime, you sound a very special Mum and wife..... I have to fav this for such a heartwarming and meaningful photo....
What a sweet shot, and your words truly did so warmed my heart. We feel a lot alike about Christmas. A few of my trees are decorated with balls, and then one of them is reserved for just our "special" ornaments that were each bought throughout the years and carry a great deal of memories.
Like you my tree is a collection of eclectic items all with their own story and I loved hearing how much your tree brings with it happy memories. I hope that you and your family have a very happy Xmas.
Lovely shot and narrative - Veronica also decorates her tree with an eclectic collection of old and meaningful ornaments - I like that. And I guess, by your definition, I am an antique also - LOL!
Christmas is emotion-packed and full of memories old and new... that's what makes it so special I suppose. I think you're the kind of lady who would feel deeply about special things, and that's a good thing to be :) Love the shot and the insight into your special past
Love your stories & reminiscing about your decorations & I know i have some handed down a few that aren't perhaps quite as cutting edge but full of memories & part of our Christmas. I will miss not getting them all out this year!
Oh my goodness you make me want to cry........so lovely that you have all these memories.........sadly i don't have any(old baubles that is!!) but making memories for my children!! so thats good :))
Your making me cry now! But it's not the tree that does that to me at Christmas it's my nut roast recipe. Hand written by my mother-in-law who is now in the late stages of dementia and wouldn't know what to do if you handed her a pen. Our tree has a whole notch pitch of decorations as well - we've tried to buy them from different countries but very few have surprised from the children's nursery days (damp in the loft made the salt dough explode!). I gazed enviously at the co-ordinated tree in John Lewis earlier this week and then got over it - I couldn't ignore the old decorations. This year I have bought some small retro style santa and snowmen to use as parcel decorations and then the kids can have them to start their collection (if my son is remotely bothered!)
@judithg I got it I hope one of my sons wants what is here. I think my youngest might. I really so prefer the hodgepodge. I understand crying over the handwritten recipe - I've got a few of those also.
Ah, thank you, dear heart, for a very special sentiment here - I have found myself weeping so unexpectedly during the season so far and I know that it is partly because the loss of my mother is still so raw. You offer me great consolation, here. . .and I have to say that I think we must have very identical kinds of Christmas trees in our home!
so many of my ornaments have the similar feelings for me. I hope that as the years have gone by and I repeated what each one meant to me as I hung it on the tree, that it has sunk in to my kids, especially my boys. Like you said, they are different than we women are. i hope that someday they will be sorting them all out together and that each of them will have special ones that they will want to take home to their own trees. I know my daughter will carry on some of my traditions, just not so sure about the boys...but in the meantime...I have now begun the process with my grandkids, telling them...so that maybe they will actually want some of them too, This is a special ornament you have...and I will be posting the the following days a couple of my own that look very similar...I guess plastic was the material of the day, huh? lol
ps, I like the random piece of tinsel hanging there...I don't think you can even buy it anymore,can you?...some of my ornaments are holding on to it as well.
@vickisfotos I don't know if you can or not. I don't want any as Charlie leaves the tree alone, except for tinsel. It is his mission to eat as much of it as he can reach - and then their is tinsel all over the back yard......
yeah, I am not sorry that is is gone either...but it was for sure the 'must have' in the day....I remember it being all wound up on my vacuum cleaner roller..yuck
I feel exactly the same way. I ended up sleeping on the couch last night, staring at my tree of memories and lights. Even write a poem about it this morning...I did not have kids of my own, but have helped raise my step son since he was ten and he is now 24. But I have had my niece and nephew over each year to make ornaments, have made them with students, have bought them on trips...I cry too, but yes, we are blessed to have had all those joyous times with the ones we are missing now
December 8th, 2012
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