Last night I finally managed to get the tree decorated. Claude brought the boxes up yesterday. I brought up all the other boxes full of decorations for the house yesterday. That was as far as we got.
Last night when we both returned home I went to the basement to scan a few items to help clear off my dresser. When I came upstairs, my sweet hubby had sorted the tree branches and was trying to put them on the tree trunk. I told him not to do that. I appreciate that help so much but the twigs on each branch must be spread out and it is so much easier to do that and then put them on the trunk than to fight through them all after they are put on the trunk. I felt bad but was grateful for him trying to do that for me.
I got the branches spread out and put in the tree trunk, put on the myriad of lights, the gold ribbon, the bead garland and then all those ornaments. This year I started with the can of handmade ornaments. I really want to pare down my Christmas decorations. So I went through those homemade ornaments and made 5 Ziploc bags of ornaments, one for each of my grandmonsters. Some of these ornaments I made and some of them my mother made. That felt good.
The results were another beautiful tree full of memories of life. Places we have lived, kids growing up, travels we have been on. So many good memories. It so nice to go through those each year. It takes hours but to remember good things is so worth that time.
Here are a few of our ornaments with a bit of their history. This ornament was given to me by a dear friend, Bernie Bolton. She is from Ireland. I love Ireland. The year she gave this to me she made a trip to Ireland and brought this ornament back to me. It is a tiny silver nativity inside a green felt tree that opens.
This ornament is such an old and treasured ornament. First, it is purple, my all time favorite color. Second, it was one of my parent's ornaments and always hung on their Christmas tree. Third, when I married Claude, our first Christmas, my father and Claude went to the woods and cut down a tree for us and one for my parents home. My mother gave me this purple ornament that Christmas and it is been on our tree ever since. It occupies the place of the Christmas tree topper.
Then there is my yurt. When Claude worked for the Peace Corp, he made a trip to Kyrgyzstan. The only thing I asked for was a yurt Christmas ornament. Yurts fascinate me. I really didn't think he would ever find that request. It turns out they even held one of their meetings in a beautiful yurt lined with animal skins. Claude was able to find a yurt ornament and he brought it home to me. Love this little ornament.
In 2005 Claude and I made a dream trip to Israel. We went to an olive wood shop and one of the items I purchased was this little bell with a nativity inside. This one has so many layers of memories and lots of deep feelings for my love of the Savior and the amazing opportunity to walk where he walked. I know clearly that one can love the Savior and feel close to him without going to Israel. So I will always treasure that extra bit of understanding by being in those places and feeling even closer to Him.
Andie made these deer ornaments using Hayden and Bailey's hand prints. How cute is that?! Below them in a round ornament with a Christmas light shining out the little windows of a pueblo. Michael, my son-in-law and Andie's hubby, gave me this ornament. Love having an ornament that the light shines through the windows of a home.
These are ornaments I made. I made a set for my parents and for Claude's parents. The pictures are from 1980 so I'm thinking these were made in 1980. Nissa is lower left and she was in the 4th grade. Jacob is top center and he was in kindergarten. Andie is lower right and she was in 2nd grade. We would have been living in Denver, Colorado when these were taken and the kids would have been going to Westwood Elementary School. I'm sure of the year because of Jacob's picture. I found a little box turtle crossing the road while driving through a neighborhood in Denver. I put it in the back of my car and took it home for the kids. When they got home from school they were very happy to find that turtle. The kids got two cardboard boxes and cut an opening in one side of each of the boxes. Then they taped them together. The bottom of one box they filled with grass and the bottom of the other box they filled with sand. The side with sand also had a tin pie pan buried in it and filled with water so Toby (that is the name given the turtle) had a place to swim. Jacob would get up every morning and run water over Toby to give him a bath before he went to kindergarten. The morning of school pictures, Jacob gave Toby his bath, then held him up to give him a kiss. Toby grabbed hold of Jacob's upper lip and wouldn't let go. I heard a scream and ran to the bathroom to find a turtle hanging from my son's lip. All I could do was yank it off. This left a clear turtle mouth print on Jacob's upper lip and a nice reminder of the date in his school picture that year. Fun memory.
The final picture is another nativity in a glass ball. This was also given to me last year by Bernie Bolton. It is simply beautiful and a nice way to end this post. I'm not sure how many little nativities I have on our tree but there are several. Love that.
I have enough ornaments that it takes hours to put them all on. This year I added three from our travels. Even though it takes a lot of time to put up the tree, I do love remembering what a full life I have had and how much family and friends mean to me. I believe that is an important part of that Christmas spirit.
Now...I must open the other boxes and finish putting up decorations while seeing what I can give away to trim down all the decorating as I get older. Poor Claude has started putting the outside lights up but we have had so much rain he can't get that done yet. We'll get there.
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