I really don’t like to take down my Christmas decorations. I can put everything up in just a few short hours but it takes me all day to take down my decorations! I think my pokiness can be attributed to my sentimental attachments to my ornaments. I have a story for so many of them.
My tree is not fancy. The Farmer and I did a real tree for a few years, but my lack of watering it caused the trees to die and leave needles behind, usually found in May or June. Nearly always found in the bottom of my foot or rear end. So we switched to a fake tree. And it’s not even a good fake tree. It sheds terribly. But it gets so full of ornaments that you wouldn’t know it’s not a perfect tree.
So all good things must come to an end. It took nearly all day to pack up the decorations. And Christmas is back in the attic for another year.
But this year I decided to take a few pictures and tell you about my favorite ornaments. The ones that are sentimental. Old. Treasured.
This is my angel. It’s made from a clothespin, part of a coffee filter, a cotton ball and a pipe cleaner. I made it when I was 6 years old. I wrap this angel up in tissue paper every year, like she is an invaluable treasure. When the tree goes up, she is at the top, pretty close to the angel that sits at the top of the tree. This angel was made in Sunday School. I do love her!
This ornament was made when I was no more than 10 years old. Laura, Brad and Brent were friends of mine from church and are still people I hang out with today! It’s a shrinky dink. One that makes me smile every year and be thankful for longstanding friendships.
This ornament is one of my grade school pictures. There isn’t a date, but I think it’s 1st grade. Just a simple styrofoam circle with my picture pinned in.
This simple triangle Santa isn’t much to look at. But it has held up over a lot of years!
This plaster snowman is actually The Farmer’s. He can’t remember when he made it, but he carved his name in the back!
This Santa face hangs from my archway. Another Christmas decoration that is at least 30 years old.
This ornament is much more recent. I have at least 7 of this type of ornament. My nearly 89-year-young Grandma makes them on her embroidery machine for all of her 5 kids and 16 grandkids for Christmas! They are beautiful!
And my final Christmas sentimental decoration is my manger scene. My Grandpa made the manger. He and Grandma gave me the manger and figurines when I was maybe 13 or 14 years old. I’ve put it out every year since and even with 3 kids in the house, no one has ever messed with it!
Christmas is so much more than gifts. To me and my family, Christmas is about the birth of Christ. About hope. A promise. An eternity. It’s about family and friends. Gratitude. And memories. So while it may be late, Merry Christmas to you and yours.