Bliss & Blessedness: Christmas Ornaments

I have had a lifelong affair with Christmas ornaments. I don’t know if I can pin point exactly when that relationship began. I love them so. They cause a number of emotions to surface and memories recalled.

This year we put up our tree on the 1st of November. I felt like I was betraying the spirit of Christmas because I N.E.V.E.R. buy and put up my tree before the day after Thanksgiving. But this year is different.

We've been blessed to be back in a house after 5 years. Our ornaments have been in storage for the same length of time. We bought an artificial tree this year (another betrayal to my Christmas senses). There are some good aspects like, never having to water it, we can keep it up for as long as we want without it drying out only to become a fire hazard and when I removed all of the ornaments this year my hands won't look like I've been fighting with a cat.

Decorating the tree was truly a Christmas present to myself this year. Let me share some of the special ones that make me smile.

These 3 were some of the first I can remember. We were living in Tulsa and I was in 6th grade. I had seen some pictures of ornaments in one of my mother's magazines that caught my eye. I traced these pictures, using a sheet of carbon paper, onto some old wood shingles I had found. I sawed them out with a small saw from my dad's work bench and painted them with my brother's model car oil paints.

My momma still has most of them but I swiped a few for my tree.

This little angel has the sweetest face (the elf looks a little creepy in this photo doesn't he?). It was my mother-in-law's and was actually part of some other decoration.

The turtle doves were hers also.

Ornaments fall into different categories

Ornaments made by children,

annual gifts from friends far away,

gift exchanges,

whimsical ones bought at Christmas bazaars

Mom bought some of these hand beaded ornaments from a little old lady at a Senior Citizen's craft fair. I tell you, the detail on these are amazing!

You can tell a lot about a family by looking at the ornaments on their tree.

pride in school,

pride in state,

faith,

childhood sports,

vacations,

arrival of new family members.

Some ornaments are made especially for us by special people. My sister Melody needlepointed this one for me because she knows I love hot air balloons.

More hot air balloons.

Mom gave me these little downhill ski critters back in the '70's

Some ornaments come in boxed sets. This is a Hansel and Gretel set complete with candy cottage, the wicked old lady and of course Hansel and Gretel.

We like lots of wild life on our tree

There is a hidden ornament on our tree each year. Look real hard in the middle of this photo and you'll see a pickle. The first child to find the ornament, that is hidden deep into the center of the tree, receives a special gift.

Since the grand kids were in town for Thanksgiving we had Miss Muffet look for it. She found it pretty quick! Her reward for being such an observant child was an Advent Calendar.

Here are some more ornaments that we love just because they're cute, pretty, and sparkly.