#159--Nice--Christmas Decorations from the Past

The theme for this week is “nice.”  How perfect for the week before Christmas.  I decided that I would blog about some of the Christmas items that I have inherited.  Remember, this family does not discard much that has sentimental value and Christmas items do indeed have a lot of sentimental value.

Let me start with a couple of Christmas postcards that were sent to my father.

I also inherited ornaments that hung on my mother’s tree.

 Little Old Santa

A bell that actually rings

                                                                                                           

And my father’s tree -- A holder for a candle, not something I am going to try putting a candle in.

When I was very young my mother bought this Santa in a sleigh.  Santa even comes with a music box which plays Silent Night.  He is somewhat the worse for wear but I love him, just the same.  It has been in the center of the dining room table for as long as my parents were alive, and now it spends Christmas on a table.  When I walk by it, I often wind up the music box and listen to Silent Night.

#97--Time to Trim the Tree

Today is it snowing here in Michigan.  It is the second time it has snowed this week and I think we have more snow now that we did all last winter.  So, it seemed like a wonderful time to put up the Christmas tree.  One of the things I love about doing that is the ornaments.  In a family that is pretty sentimental, I have lots of ornaments, many of which are very special.  Last year, I blogged about those that belonged to my parents (  On Christmas Ornaments and Christmas Trees  ).  But I have other ornaments, which have a story attached to them.
When I was growing up, we always had a big tree. One year, we had a tree that was bigger than usual; in fact, I believe the top of it hit the 12 foot high ceiling.   Because it was big, we needed more ornaments.  So my mother sent my father and me out to get a few more.  I remember that we drove down to Fifth Avenue, and went to a small variety store.  We picked out these two sets of ornaments.

The birds that clip onto a branch

And these trumpets.

I also like to decorate the bottom of the tree.  Some times I just use presents wrapped in brightly colored paper with big bows and other times, I use some old toys.

#77--On Christmas Ornaments and Trees

The theme for this week is holidays.  I just put up my Christmas tree.  Christmas tree and ornaments are on my mind.   So it seemed very appropriate to blog about my trees.  When I was growing up, we always had a big tree that sometimes hit our very high ceiling.  On that tree, we hung lots of ornaments, some of those ornaments were on my mother’s tree when she was a child and others were on my father’s tree.

I now have those ornaments and they are very special to me.  When I had  two dogs, I was afraid that they would knock the tree over and break the ornaments.  To keep them safe, I got I small tree, put it in the living room on a table, and hung most of my old ornaments on it. This week I want to share my favorite ornaments with you:  a bell that actually rings, a Santa and a teapot.

I also have a glass candle holder, although I cannot imagine putting a lit candle in it and hanging it on the tree.

If you have ornaments that are precious to you, I would love to hear about them.