What makes Christmas special for me: Heirloom Ornaments

There are just a few things that say "Christmas" to me. I think this is the case with most people. Those things can be varied and obscure, but are often rooted in tradition, nostalgia, and fond memories. Over the next few days, I'm going to attempt to write about a few of the things that make Christmas truly Christmas-y for me simply because of the nostalgia with which they are imbued in my mind.

Back when I was very young, my mother made four fancy ornaments with ribbon, beads, and rhinestones secured to Styrofoam balls with regular and fancy-headed stick pins. This particular ornament pictured at left always held a certain amount of magic for me. It was so delicate and special. Mom always hung it up high on the tree so it wouldn't be disturbed. Although we children were allowed to handle the rest of the ornaments and decorate the tree with them, this one was handled by Mom.

When Christmas was over, it (and it's companions) would be carefully wrapped in Kleenex and put into an oblong cardboard box. The following year when the ornaments would come out again, I always knew what was in the oblong box and anticipated it making its annual debut. Although some of our ornaments didn't survive the many moves we made during my childhood, this one always did. I couldn't necessarily count on which house we were going to be in in any given year, but I could count on that ornament being there on the tree.

Later, when my mother started downsizing her Christmas decorations, she let us three children sit down together and divide out the ornaments. It was a fun trip down memory lane as we reminisced about all the years of decorating the tree, the animals that would un-decorate the tree, which house we lived in and when, etc.. I was so happy when I was the one that got to have the special ornaments that Mom had made so many years ago. I got the oblong box and the 30 year old Kleenex tissues too.

Now this particular ornament still makes it annual debut in our home, except it is hung in a place of honor on an ornament stand instead of on a tree.

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