A Rummage Through the Christmas Ornaments!
by Sharon Archer
One of my favourite jobs approaching Christmas is decorating the tree. We have an eclectic collection of ornaments and because they lurk out of sight for eleven months of the year, opening the box means a trip down memory lane.
There’s the little fold-out apple I bought as a souvenir while on holiday with a friend and my sister. We spent a week travelling around Tasmania - the Apple Isle. The delicate red-paper lattice is a concertina that folds into a flat pack for storage. That holiday was more than twenty years ago, but I only have to get out the apple to remember the adventure we had.
Then there are the clothes-peg ornaments which came from a clearing sale. I bid on a box of bric a brac and these two were hiding right at the bottom.
I can’t help wondering what their story is... the beef-eater is so perfect while the reindeer is much more basic. Were they painstakingly crafted by a couple of children working together on a newspaper-covered kitchen table? Or perhaps they were made, years apart, by the same child.
This little wooden boy, toting his tiny Christmas tree, was given to me by a friend for my first Christmas in Australia. We worked together in a research laboratory and she invited me to spend Christmas with her family. I see this figure, all rugged up in red and green, and it brings back wonderful memories of their warm hospitality.
These musical instruments were used to decorate the wrapping on a present from another Christmas. Such a simple but clever idea - and a lovely addition to our ornaments.
The beaded Santa face came from a holiday with friends in the Victorian High Country. It was just before Christmas and we went to the local market. It was packed with glorious treasures. We all went home laden with homemade goodies for the table and the tree and for gifts.
So what's stashed in your box of Christmassy goodies? I'd love to hear about your special ornaments and the memories attached!
Wherever you are and
whatever you're doing,
I wish you a
wonderful Christmas
and many blessing for 2012!
Hi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely tour of your Christmas memories. Gorgeous! I have a few ornaments that friends have given me and I think of them each Christmas. My Mum had a gorgeous white ornament that my Dad gave her for their first Christmas. I always loved that one!
I hope you and your dh have a lovely Christmas and all the best for 2012!
Thanks for my Christmas mood :)
Cath xo
Sharon, I can hear in your voice just how much you love dragging your Christmas box out and delving into your Christmas treasures. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Christmas ornament is a frosted glass angel with silver wings that a dear friend gave to me on the release of my debut "His Christmas Angel." I still get happy goosebumps whenever I look at it.
Ah Sharon ~ This post almost makes me want to put up a Christmas tree again. We have some wonderful ornaments from all our travels and places we've lived in. The best ornament is one of the oldest. A refurbished angel for the top of the tree. It was on my parents tree for many years until my older brother and his wife gave them a new one. My younger brother refurbished it and sent it to us for our second Christmas together. We weren't going to be able to be home for Christmas that year and it was a most welcome bit of home on our tree.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas everyone and all the best to you in 2012
I have the exact clothes peg reindeer. My son made several when he was in primary school. They are proudly displayed on the Christmas Tree along with every other decoration the children have EVER made.
ReplyDeleteSharon, what a lovely box of memorabilia you have. I tend to be very basic with tree decorations, and have a couple of boxes for the different colour themes I like.
ReplyDeleteSo one year, I'll use the tinsel and balls from the blue and silver box (and have blue and silver present wrappings and table decorations), and another year I'll go with red and gold. I'm a simple girl!
Hey Catherine, I'm so glad you enjoyed my rummage through the ornament box! It was fun for me! LOL
ReplyDeleteTell me more about the white ornament that your Dad gave to your Mum. I want to know shape and texture and shade of white!
Thank you for your lovely Christmas wishes.
Michelle, how gorgeous is your friend's present! A perfect present to celebrate the release of His Christmas Angel. Very very clever!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Kaelee. You know even if you don't go to the trouble of putting up the tree, there's nothing to say you can't enjoy a good rummage through your box of ornaments. It sounds like you have a marvellous collection for a trip down memory lane! Starting with that wonderful keepsake of the angel your brother had refurbished for you! That's so special.
ReplyDeleteMarybelle, how lovely that you have a small herd of clothes-peg reindeer like mine. I love the sound of your tree covered in decorations made by your children! I wonder... were they all crafted out of clothes pegs? I imagine a clothes-peg Santa would be quite do-able!
ReplyDelete:)
Hi Rachel, your tree and table sound very elegant! What theme are you going for this year? Is it a red-and-gold Christmas or a blue-and-silver one? I must admit I'm a traditionalist and like the sound of your red and gold!
ReplyDeleteI lurk at the post-Xmas sales to collect any red and/or gold ornaments left on the shelf! I got a nice gold "boot" and a red "sleigh" last year! All sparkly!
:)
Sharon
Gosh, our tree is completely not elegant, lol. We use a live pine tree from the roadside and decorate it with lots of homemade decorations, mixed with various bought ones. The result is rather odd, but we love it. The box of ornaments is full of memories of things my brothers and I made when I was little and is now being added to by the next generation.
ReplyDeleteWishing you and and your family a wonderful Christmas, Sharon.
Anita, your tree sounds a treat with lots of wonderful memories dangling from the branches! And there's nothing quite like the smell of a real Christmas tree, is there! Of course, there are all the pine needles on the floor but that's a way down the track... right now it will be all green and gorgeous smelling fabulous!
ReplyDeleteYou have a gorgeous Christmas too!
hugs
Sharon
Merry Christmas to you, too, Sharon. My special Christmas memory are two particular christmas albums that we played every year from when I was small. They're records and stashed away in a box somehwere. I managed to find one of them on iTunes and get a digital version but I'm still hunting for the other one. Turns out it's a very solid memory for my sister and my mum, too. And we'd like the only child in our family, my nephew, to grow up with it too. So the hunt is officially on :)
ReplyDeleteLovely post Sharon. I adore the peg soldier. My favourite ornaments are a pair of glass peace doves given to me by a friend before one particularly trying Christmas many years ago. They always take up a special spot on the tree. Have a great Christmas!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the hunt for that Christmas album, Nikki. sound is such a strong memory prompter and it would be lovely to pass that family tradition along to your nephew!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helen! I'm very fond of my peg soldier and the mystery of his story... part of the fun is imagining who made him and how pleased they must have been with their finished ornament!
ReplyDeleteYour glass peace doves sound wonderful!
I love your xmas decorations, Sharon -- and I adore that stocking in the first picture, the pink one at the top! You have a fabulous collection of ornaments with wonderful stories!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite xmas decorations are my Swedish ones made out of straw. We don't have a tree this year, but the straw decorations are hanging around the house. And I always have to bring out the Swedish Angel Chimes. Do you know them? They're candelabra with four little candles that burn beneath brass angels. The heat from the candles makes the angels spin and they make a tinkling sound against the bells.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQq6CGTK6jI
Our angel chimes are quite tarnished now cos I've had them since I was a child, but they spin and chime perfectly and I love them! It's always SO hard to pack them away again...
Hey, Em! Thanks! I made the stockings! So now I'm feeling very chuffed! LOL
ReplyDeleteI checked out your Swedish Angel Chimes! Aren't they gorgeous! So clever and the sound is delightful. No wonder you don't want to pack them away!
:)
Sharon
Hi Sharon -- fab post! Thanks for sharing your decorations. We have a real hodge-podge of decorations...but my favs are ones I made myself years ago (including some stockings!) My one and only attempt to get crafty (-:
ReplyDeleteGood one you for making the Christmas stockings, Anna! I love dabbling with crafty things... Especially sewing. Except for mending... and actually there's a pile of it with my name on it so I need to apply myself to it! Would be nice to get it done before 2012... perhaps I'll have a cuppa and contemplate that thought. With a bit of luck it will go away with a nice shortbread!
ReplyDelete;)
Sharon