One of my most favorite things about Christmas is the Tree~ matter of fact, it may be my favorite thing! I have always loved them, and can remember when I was little, my brother and I would have our own separate Christmas tree in our bedroom~ it was wonderful! Decorated with toys and paper chains, and huge Gaudy Ornaments we made at school from Styrofoam meat trays from the grocery, with Christmas cards glued in the center. I wonder where those went????
I thought I would share a couple of my trees with you all this year~ above is the tree we have in our dining room. My husband got up before dawn the day after Thanksgiving, and took our son Josh to the 'tool sale' at Sears, and seeing nothing they could live without, stopped by the Feed store, and Josh picked this tree out. Jayson said he didn't pause a second~ he saw it from the parking lot and would not change his mind, he wanted THIS one. As you can see, its a little uhhh....'full' ! Even after Jayson whacked quite a bit off the bottom, its still just 2" shy of being 10feet tall, and a little over 6 feet wide at the bottom! The girls and I were all awoke at 6am with those two guys stuffing it in the house! Ohh, but they all had so much fun decorating it
This is a much smaller tree~ and not a real one. I love it~ its very sparse and scraggely looking, and very narrow~ each year I put it up in my little Gallery, and it keeps my most precious of precious ornaments, all handmade and each one with a special memory attached.
When I was little, in the early 70s, Ma always made ornaments from real chicken eggs. Coated the inside with paraffin and glitter, and the outside with different color velvets. She had wonderful treasures she put inside each one, and this one, was MINE. I never got to touch it, but little Raggedy Ann & Andy in there were mine and I loved it~ I cant remember a Christmas without this ornament. Its one of my most favorite.....
Along with this one Ma painted for me in 1976. She made Andy for my brother.
Sharon Mitchell makes the most wonderful wax ornaments, and her primitive angels look so pretty with my little pip berry garland I stuck in the tree
Ohhhhhhhhhh......now this one. Ok. It is a close tie with my egg ornament for being my favorite~ it just wouldn't be Christmas without this one on the tree.....Ma cant remember if she bought it or made it, but I don't care! I have spent time every year for nearly 40, loving this little felt drum
Ma made this neat Soldier, he is a cross stitched band stitched into a tube and filled. LOVE him!
One of my little Queen Anne ornaments I made for me this year~ I just love them! She is out of special 18th c bits and bobs. Behind her you can see one of my eggs I did one year, with Victorian scrap Angels and the Nativity nestled in excelsior. I always make some kind of ornament for Christmas
And my tree is filled with the special MOST special ones the children make me at school~ I adore them! This is Emma a few years ago. I bet each and every one of you has at least one special ornament made from Popsicle sticks and glitter!
My friend Sarah Laird cross stitched this little owl for me for our 6th grade gift exchange. She moved away not long after, don't know where she is now, but I love this and always remember when she gave it to me. She was worried I wouldn't like it, and I LOVED it
Do you remember this one Ma??? I cant remember if I got it in Nursery school, or Kindergarten, it was so long ago, but I remember going into class and seeing the tree full of them, and searching all over for mine! So what my name is spelt sooooo wrong~ it had a little candy cane in it and I was SO PROUD taking it home after school.
Some ornaments are too fragile and special for the tree now, so I just unwrap them and look at them for a bit, and put them away safe again. I made this little reindeer in the 3rd grade, from flour dough. He used to have little sticks poked in for his horns. In't he cute cute cute!
And last, this one~ a little Holly Hobbie, or Sun Bonnet girl dough ornament. Mrs Peterson's house, our Girls scout troop 180 Christmas party....she had made one for each of us and hung it on her tree. The paint is separating and flaking off, perhaps I will try and get it all back together and give it a coat of glue or something~ silly little things to some, but to me, they hold my most Cherished Christmas memories
Gorgeous trees! Aren't those old homemade ornaments the best? And your dolls make the tree even more special. Your kids must be exceedingly proud of their mom.
ReplyDeleteI love your trees !!!
ReplyDeleteAngie
Forgot about all the fun things I used to make for you kids, (and your teachers and friends at the last minute!!) I'm surprised they've held up so well. So now you can wait until your kids have their first Christmas away from home and pass a few of them on so they can remember, every year, all the fun and hooplah of the Holidays.
ReplyDeleteLove you, Mom
I so love the 'special' decorations about my tree too, I think the perfectly matching decorated Christmas trees belong in the stores - out tree ends up a very big jumble of over 50 years memorabilia (and I wouldn't trade it for anything less impersonal!) I strongly suspect that I have a drummer boy for your drum (and a christmas tree, boot and bauble of the same style) which possibly means that they were massed produced, and the drummer boy has been a fave of mine for probably the same amount of time!
ReplyDeleteSomehow, Rachael, it seems apropos that your name was misspelled on your little stocking ornament! I love your spelling and am so glad you came to TEA.
ReplyDeleteLove your trees and reading about your memories.
Sarah
wishing you the best Christmas too!
ReplyDeleteLove your trees so much. I LOVE old fashioned ornament you collect through the years. Isn't a pleasure taking them out and hanging them up, reliving the memories?
Karen