Wednesday, December 12, 2018

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS


This is a little dark but when I saw how pretty the reflection of the lights were in the clock's glass, I wanted to add it to my post.  I have now finished decorating our Christmas Tree in the front room.
For years when our son was growing up we always had a larger tree, not huge by any means and not for any particular reason other than the fact that it was fun to go to the tree lot and pick one out with lots and lots of thick, lovely branches. Ours when I was young were small, and probably more like a Charlie Brown tree. My sister and I didn't care, we didn't even think it as a spindly kind of a tree. By the time we helped Mum decorate each branch, it was glorious.  The ornaments were all made out of pretty colored glass baubles, we cut others from paper into decorative shapes, and put thread on them to hang along with the pretty glass.  We delighted in throwing silver tinsel over the branches, and a paper garland draped around that we made ourselves.  Streamers would be hung along with multi-colored balloons, all tacked into the ceiling and crisscrossed to make another decorative pattern.  It all looked very festive. Every now and again a balloon would pop and make us all jump a foot, with giggles following as we got another balloon to replace the popped one. 
As our son grew older the trees got smaller.  When he left home there were many times we would be spending Christmas away, and I hardly did any decorating at all.  One year I bought a smaller artificial tree.  I really struggled with not having a real one, but back then several of our friends were going that route, and when I saw theirs I decided to take the plunge. This was the one we bought many years ago.
I thought it would be a good idea to buy one for the family room. This is where we spend most of our time after all. There isn't a lot of room for a Christmas Tree, so I bought one of the narrow ones that fit into a corner, and I have enjoyed decorating it each year.  But I have been toying with the idea of having a second tree, a little larger and fuller. One that we could put it in the front room, and see the lights from the street.  It took me another three years to make a decision and this is the new tree.
The Christmas tree skirt is one I bought from a lady many years ago at a craft show.  She made the prettiest quilted ones, all works of art. I rediscovered it in a box hidden away in the back of our storage room, along with many ornaments that haven't seen the Christmas lights in many a year.  

Underneath the tree, instead of a toy train or a Christmas village, I place a collection of teddy bears. There are a few honorary bears, like the rag doll of Virginia Dare, the first baby to be born in the New World back in 1587, and named after the Virginia Territory, her birthplace. I bought her in North Carolina last year. There is also an intrepid  reporter dog that jumped into my bag when we visited The Newseum in Washington DC several years ago.  It is always fun to go down into the storage room and open up the boxes.  

Several ornaments had been lost/stored with the Christmas Tree skirt. It was fun unwrapping each one and getting little surprises.  It slowed the process down some. Each one I found reminded me of family and friends. Others had made their way back to me after those I gave them to had to leave us, and ones they gave me hold sweet memories. All  have great sentimental value.

There are a few duplicate photos in these collages, and you'll probably see some again as I share more before the 25th.  Tomorrow I am posting Santa Claus ornaments.  

Do you have any Christmas Tree stories from years ago?  I would love to read about them. Enjoy your day and thank you for visiting.  




36 comments:

  1. Your decorations are lovely.
    Before my parents were married my father helped my mother finish decorating the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve and went home. When he came back the next morning my brothers pointed out (rudely) that he hadn't given her a gift. So he pointed out the necklace of turquoise beads decorating the tree - which she hadn't noticed the night before.

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    1. Hi EC, that's a beautiful story about your father's gift to your Mother. Thank you for sharing it. I loved it.

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  2. Lovely tree and ornaments thanks for sharing your story.

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  3. It is truly a tree of your life; a tree of memories. It is really gorgeous, you sure know how to decorate a tree. Our family had a smaller thin tree that they kept up all year round, and they decorated it for each season. Fall, Easter, and so on. Your bears are wonderful. And the reflection in the tree is so good that when I first saw it, I thought you had put a little tree inside the clock!

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    1. Thank you Ginny, and what a neat idea to decorate a tree all year round. I enjoyed reading that about your parents tree.

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  4. Love the bears, Denise, along with all your other decorations. My family missed out on Christmas fun. War years, Mom working, Dad working away, me living with an elderly aunt is the only excuse I have for poor Christmas celebrations. Joe changed it all, I did it for him if you know what I mean. I certainly don't bother now he's gone. I like seeing the decorating skills of my blog friends, though.

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    1. Thank you for sharing this Valerie. Must have been very hard. I also enjoy seeing how others decorate their homes.

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    1. Obrigado Francisco. Um abraço e uma boa semana para você, sua amiga Denise :)

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  6. Hello, wonderful Christmas story and memories. Your tree is beautiful, beautiful ornaments. I love the quilt tree skirt and your cute teddie bears. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

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    1. Thank you Eileen, you have a great day and weekend also :)

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  7. your tree is beautiful as are all the ornaments. I bought my first fake tree 40 years ago and have never had a real one since... this year I went with only Charlie brown tree. I would love to have a tree like yours if someone would put it up and take it down... our family was poor, we always bought the scrawny cheap trees, the crooked ones no one wanted, daddy would straighten the tree up by tying the limbs and tree to the mantle beside it. we did what you did decorating and every single year mother said exactly the same thing. we threw that last icicle on and she said "this is the most beautiful tree we have ever had" we would say Mama, they can't all be the most beautiful...she loved all things Chrismtas

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    1. Lovely to hear about your childhood Christmas' Sandra. Your Mum must have been a lovely lady.

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  8. Oh, when we were kids, there were pine and cedar trees growing everywhere...mostly cedar trees. Not wanted. So my brother and I would go in search of one.And we would not go and pick the first thing we seen, but would search and search, and then there would be the job of dragging it home. But it was such fun....

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    1. How wonderful Rose, I can just imagine how much fun that was.

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  9. The picture of the clock reflection, is perfection!!!!!! Being dark, adds to the loveliness. :-)

    Forever, when the children were growing up and home, we went out to cut down our own tree. But when we got older, and doing so was no longer an option, and I was afraid of any tree, I did not cut ourselves, we got a small artificial one. For the Hearth Room where our tree always is.

    Then we got another, for a window in the front room.

    These are now perfect for us!!!!!

    Our son's family next door, still go out and get a tree, so we can still "smell" a real tree, there. :-)

    Like with all of life, changes evolve. And it is still lovely.

    Happy Christmas!
    🎄✨🎄

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    1. Thank you and I enjoyed reading your memories. I remember the pine smell of a real tree, glad to learn you still experience that with your son and his family. Your last sentence is very true :) Happy Christmas!

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  10. beautiful denise, really beautiful!! the reflection in the clock is so pretty, i too am glad you included that picture!! i shared pictures of my decorations today too. i have several small trees scattered about the house. i miss my big tree and all my special ornaments but visually i like the smaller ones better and they are pre-decorated so we just plop them in place!!

    our trees when the kids were little were huge, they often toppled over so we started tying them to the handle of the sliding glass door. so many memories!!

    your ornaments are gorgeous!!

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    1. Thank you Debbie. Those are great memories and your smaller trees around the house sound lovely.

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  11. Thank you for sharing your wonderful Christmas! I feel the season now!

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  12. What a fun reindeer signature, Denise. Love it. Nice reflections from the tree lights. I'm going back and forth about where to put our tree this year. For the past several years we've bought the mystery tree from the big box stores all wrapped up without knowing what it will look like till we get it home. This year we live 70 miles away from big box stores so we are going to cut down a tree on our property. Love all your ornaments!

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    1. Thanks Ellen, and I'm happy you like it as I had fun making him and a few more. Trying to change them around a bit just for this season. Your Christmas Tree story was very interesting, I've never heard of a mystery tree before. We usually see what we are buying around here. Npw, actually cutting a tree down on your property, that is a hallmark moment I would love to experience..

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  13. Love the reflection in the clock and I am very jealous of the bear collection. Take care Diane

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    1. Thank you Diane, I enjoy my bear collection. I don't buy them as much these days, and special family members who used to give them to me are gone, but I treasure the ones I have.

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  14. It's fun to see your lovely trees, Denise. All of your lovely ornaments that have been collected are beautiful. Your tree skirt is so pretty. I like the photo of the reflection in your clock. Very pretty. ♥

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    1. Hi Martha Ellen, that tree skirt gets a lot of compliments. I envy the talented artists who create these quilts, they are very gifted. Thank you so much, and I hope your weekend is a great one.

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  15. Good morning.
    It is currently morning of Japan time 14th.
    Christmas As "Chapproached, the town became gorgeous".
    Christmas song flows, and a roadside tree is displayed with gorgeous neon.
    I am excited just to walk the town. "
    Ryoma.

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    1. Good morning, that all sounds very nice. Thank you for sharing.

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  16. Rediscovering all those memories was like an early Christmas! How wonderful. We used to go all out with two big trees ...living room and family room. And it was wonderful and I wouldn’t have missed those years for all the world. But by the time we retired and sold the house, it had stopped being quite as much fun (even the grandkids were too old to believe in Santa Claus by then)....so it wasn’t too hard to give the heirloom ornaments to the kids and only minimally decorate the RV (and now the Canal Cottage). But like flowers and gardens, I love looking at other people’s beautiful decorations and sometimes “steal” them with my camera!

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  17. Very pretty reflection on the clock. Love all the decoration you have on the tree too

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