Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

For this weeks Christmas post, I decided to share some pictures of a few of my favorite ornaments. Originally, I thought..."my favorite five," but as I began taking photos it was hard to choose. So I ended up with much more than five, and you'll just have to forgive me for taking more of your time than necessary to look at Christmas ornaments.

When I was little, me and my siblings each had an ornament collection. Every year, Mom would buy us the Hallmark ornament that went in our collection. My brother collected the little clothespin soldiers, my sister collected the angels, and I collected the rocking horses. My first rocking horse is the 1983 ornament. I saw it in an antique store a couple years ago priced at over $200. Of course that one had the box too. I threw away most of my boxes, not knowing that was a foolish thing to do. Well, I was 6 years old. Its not like I was thinking of their future value, not that I would sell them. Anyway, of all my rocking horses, this one is one of my favorites.

I don't remember what year my collection stops. At some point I moved on to Snoopy ornaments, and now I'm not really collecting anything special, just ornaments that catch my eye. But over the years, due to my horse obsession, I managed to acquire a number of horse ornaments. Of all of them, I think this one is my favorite, because it combines my love of horses and chickens.When my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) got serious enough for her to join us at Christmas, she started a tradition of giving my sister and I an ornament every year. I have quite a collection from her, and they are all different. These are two of my favorites from those that are from my sister-in-law.
I don't remember where this one came from, but I like it. It has kind of inspired me to start a kitchen tree. I'd like to collect ornaments that have to do with food and cooking and decorate a little tree in my kitchen.

In 1999 (?) I took a year off from college and worked, trying to figure out what I was doing with my life and what kind of career I wanted. I still haven't quite figured that out. However, a lot of good things came out of that year, including traveling too Europe and spending a month with my friend from Bratislava, Slovak Republic and also a week in Glasgow, Scotland with another friend. Barbora, Louise, and I met while working at a Girl Scout camp one summer, and have continued to stay in touch over the years. We all three hope to have a reunion of sorts one of these days either over here, or in Europe somewhere. They have both made second trips to the states, and I got to meet Barbora and her husband on one of those trips, but missed Louise this summer. She and her hubby and kids went to Florida, and even though I had traveled to Tennessee at the same time, we were not able to get together due to time constraints.

Ok, I got WAY off the topic. All that to say while I was in Bratislava for Christmas, I purchased these ornaments from the Christmas market. They are all made with straw, seeds, and other natural material, and are traditional Slovak ornaments.

Granny LOVED Christmas. I don't know what happened to all her Christmas stuff. We were discussing it just last weekend because Mom and I were both wondering where her lighted nativity went to that she always put in the yard. A lot of her things disappeared. I was fortunate enough, though, to discover a box of some of her Christmas ornaments when I was digging around in a storage shed a few years ago. I gave a few to my sister and brother, and kept a few for myself. These always go on my tree, in honor of Granny. They bring a million memories with just a glance.

Malcolm and I were married in July of 2002. I don't remember where we got the gourd, but Malcolm, who is forever creating things, took some wire and his pocket knife and made me this bird house ornament.
The next two are my newest ornaments. I found this one on a shopping trip in Nashville with my mom and sister while I visited in July...
...and this one I found in Roundup, MT when Mom and Dad were here visiting.

And the last one...did you think we'd never get there? I can't remember who gave it to me. Possibly my sister-in-law, but I'm not certain of that. Its only been on my tree a few years, but it goes front and center, to serve as a constant reminder of the first and greatest Christmas gift ever received.



Many people have themed trees, or trees that compliment their decorating style. Each and every tree, regardless of how it is decorated, is always beautiful to me. My tree has always been a hodge podge of ornaments, each representing events and people from in my life, or other things that are significant to me. There are 32 years worth of memories on my tree, and each one is precious.