Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Tuesday Ten: My Favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments

I have a lot of Christmas tree ornaments that I like, and the memories that go with them. These are some of the ones that are my special favorites.

1. Birdhouse:My husband chose this one for our first Christmas after we got married. We were remodeling a house and it just seemed to fit. He could't find any "Our first Christmas together" ornaments that struck his fancy, so this is what he picked out.

















2. Snowflakes: I have several, and I like them all. Sort of fragile and floaty looking, something about them makes me happy. I think I got some of them from my mom, although I am pretty sure I bought the one on the top right myself.




3. Baby's First Christmas booties:I have a ton of "Baby's first Christmas" ornaments. Gobs. Most of them are for my first born. He has 5 or so. Everyone else only has one, and the baby doesn't have one yet. Nevermind that this will be his second Christmas. I found the perfect ornament for him the other day but it said "Baby's First Christmas 2007". Do you think he would notice? I can answer that--No, but the other kids would, and they would be sure to point it out to me endlessly.


4. Glass Heart: The picture really doesn't do this one any justice. It is so pretty when the lights shine through it. It is the first ornament my mother-in-law gave me. I used to get ornaments from her every year. She hasn't given me any ornaments for a long time--and the last time I got any they were a whole bunch of rakes, shovels, and clippers, so I guess I should be glad. Nevermind, just wait until next week.






5. Christmas Angel: What. It's an angel. I'll have you know I thought of myself as quite the artist when I was in second grade. Of course she had to have blue eyes, who cares if they are closed. And how in the world are you going to know she has nostrils if they aren't painted on? For some reason, my husband always puts this one on the back of the tree when he helps decorate. Of course I move it to the place of honor, front and center, where it belongs.



6. Another first Christmas: Picking out an ornament for a baby's first Christmas is a big deal around here. Not just any old ornament will do. It doesn't have to actually say "First Christmas", since we will know what it is for. For those of you that know my 2nd daughter, this one fits her perfectly. It isn't the girly-girlness of it, because she is definately not a girly-girl. It is more the feeling of perpetual motion. And the birds. Oh, and how could we have known, when she was just a few months old, to pick out an ornament of a girl doing a straddle split jump? It was almost 4 years before she started in gymnastics. Uncanny, I say.

7. Pile of Bears: Instead of picking out a new ornament each year for the kids, we used to pick out one for everybody. This was (obviously) what we picked out when we had 4 kids. Four little bears all tangled up in lights. I thought it was cute. Still do.







8. Shell ornaments: These are all Margaret Furlong handmade bisque porcelain ornaments. I LOVE these ornaments. If you visit the website, you will see 3 of the 4 ornaments on the home page. Cool. The star came from my good friend Sylvia, the heart from my oldest son, the small angel from my mom, and the other angel from my husband(I think). So many people love me!


9. Puffy night before Christmas ornaments: I don't know what else to call them. There used to be 4, but I can't find the last one. It was a Santa and on the back it said something like "a bowl full of jelly." If you haven't figured it out by now, I made these. The date on the back says 1984 but I didn't finish them until 1988 or so. It was a kit. Hey, they came out better than the wooden cutouts depicting the 12 days of Christmas that I painted in junior high or high school. Those ended up on my mom's tree. I bet she couldn't wait until I moved out so she could throw those puppies away. Anyway, I don't care if they are slightly tacky, I like them.

10. Noodle Angel: Isn't that cute? I saw some at a craft fair and years later I made some. I actually sold these for a while. I only have 2 left because the dog used to hunt them down and eat them. Dogs are so disgusting. If you are thinking of getting one, don't. Our dog's new favorite thing is to sneak off across the road. We live across the road from the sewage treatment plant. Nice. When I want to gross myself out I wonder what he is finding over there.
Note: The property for the STP is probably over 100 acres and we only smell it occasionally in the summertime. It isn't any worse than living across from the chicken packing factory, really, unless of course your dog keeps going over there.

Merry Christmas!

Cathy's 10 Favorite Christmas ornaments

1 comment:

Cathy said...

My ceramic angel is still prettier. (Was. One of the gents broke it last year.) I don't blame your husband for putting it in the back of the tree. I put yours in the back too, when I moved mine from the back of the tree where you'd hidden it. ;-)

I love all of your ornaments. Very pretty.