Dear Santa…I have been a BAD girl. I have neglected my WordPress blog for WAYYYYY too long, and I can’t even tell you the last time that I sat down and wrote a funny or nostalgic or serious post about…anything.
So why am I here, writing this post tonight, you ask? Darn good question, dear Santa…and one that I should answer thoughtfully, and carefully, and apologetically.
I am writing this post because…last night I finally put up and decorated my 2017 Christmas tree (thanks to my son, Shane, for all of his help), and doing so made me realize that even with all the stress and sadness and overall general awfulness that this year has brought, there are still some things for which I should be thankful.
And treasured ornaments are high on that list!
Many of the ornaments I use year-after-year are special to me (and to my family), and they bring about a certain nostalgia when we open the boxes that shelter them the rest of the year when they’re not on my tree.
When we decorate with them, we often pause and talk about where they came from…what year we received them…where we lived at the time…who cared enough about our family to honor us with a gift we would treasure in the years to come.
We hold them and look at them and remember.
Last evening when I started talking about ‘themed’ Holiday Tree Decorations and about how lovely they look, my son reminded me that I’ve tried themed trees over the years but always still return to the familiar crocheted snowflakes, English-smocked ornaments, crewel-embroidered tiny stockings and houses and hand-painted wooden elves and Santas.
So I wanted to take a moment to thank you, all of my friends and family in the past and present who have given an ornament to me or to the Morice family!
Please know they are special to us and will continue to hold places of honor on my tree as long as I continue to put up a tree.
Tonight I took a few pictures of some of the ornaments that grace my tree…and I thought I’d share these pictures with you, so in no particular order, here is a sampling of the ornaments from 2017 (and before):
My ornaments include a pink crocheted hippopotamus (not shown, unfortunately); hand painted wooden ornaments (made by me and others); crocheted snowflakes of various sizes; a crocheted horse (made by my mom); embroidered ornaments; smocked ornaments; glass ornaments; cross-stitched ornaments; ornaments that belonged to my mother and my grandmother before her; ornaments made by my children when they were little; ornaments that honor my late husband; ornaments that honor my late mother (who always gave my children ornaments for Christmas); ornaments I made from a crystal chandelier my parents had in the 1970s; ornaments I made from sea glass I found at my beach; ornaments given to my family that have the year etched in to them and thus help us to remember where exactly we lived when we received them as gifts; and ornaments that I’ve purchased over the years at craft sales and specialty stores.
And last but not least, gracing the top of my tree, is the silly-but-adorable little cardboard angel with the cardboard wings and the plastic head with white hair that looks as if she just stuck her finger into a light socket. This angel has been watching over my family’s Christmases for 46 years now, and I have a feeling she will watch over my family long after I am gone.
What a wondrous assortment of memories these decorations hold, and how fortunate am I to be able to look at them, and touch them, and reflect on them again as this year comes to an end.
May you all enjoy time with your loved ones this coming week, and here’s to a wonderful New Year ahead for us all.
Shots From The Heart 