Ornament Parade

The tree is up, although I haven't gotten a picture of it yet because the lighting this time of the year just sucks big time, right?


I have A LOT of ornaments.
My mom is not a "saver", material things quickly come and go in this woman's life, so there are no baby clothes from us kids or cards we made in 2nd grade in a box somewhere for us to see and reflect on...she throws everything away.
I think the pack rat thing scares her, so she rarely saves anything.
Some things that she does save though are ornaments.
And so I think when I was younger I always thought they meant more than maybe they actually do to most people.
We take our ornaments seriously in my house, it's some of the "meaning of Christmas" that some people forget about.
Every year we buy 2 ornaments, I pick one and then persuade the kid to use his choice to pick the other one I want.
We try to buy things that mean something to us, conjur up a memory or reflect the year.
How does everybody else buy ornaments?
Do you buy new ones every year?
Do they have to be a certain kind?

So here's a look at some of the goodies on the tree...

I have many Santas on the tree in all shapes, sizes and colors. I figure when the big guy shows up he'll be happy to know we are big fans of his work.

There are the ornaments Max made when he was younger, I AM a saver of all things sentimental unlike my mother.

Even if the sequins start to fall off...I still save it!

And this little guy makes me giggle because I love the claymation Christmas specials and he's fuzzy.

This is one of my favorite movies, so of course Gene's on the tree always toward the top.

See this ornament....1981!

I remember it was on a package from my aunt and uncle that year.
I don't even remember the present inside but I remember this ornament.

Some of my favorite literary characters.

For a girl who would never consider or refer to herself as religious...I've got a lot of Jesus on the tree.
My grandma used to give them to use as kids, so I have a ton of these plastic religious ornaments, circa 1978.

And 1980 Simone is on the tree too.
My brownie troop 354 creation with a picture of me dressed as an elf for the show that year.

I remember my step-mom made my costume and I always thought I looked like Robin Hood.

I bought this little puppy way back in 2002 because he looked identical to our Jack Russell Terrier, Nerf.
When Max was a baby, Nerf went to live with my aunt because I couldn't care for him and a baby all at once and her dog had died.

(Truth be told...my darling son would not stop playing kick the dog!)
And even though he wasn't "our dog" for many years, I got a little misty this year as I hung this one because Nerf died suddenly this year.

And lastly, there's Simone again.
Little, flat, wooden me.

This ornament is super special to me because I remember the year I got her, I actually played with her like a doll.

Sure I had Barbie and Baby Alive back then, but I played with this stupid piece of wood and our tree that year.

And see my name written on the ornament...My grandma wrote that, her handwriting.

When I see her writing I am flooded with a multitude of amazingly wonderful memories of times we spent together and all the cards she used to send.

This is a good argument for writing letters yourself, your handwriting means something or will mean something to someone else.

I may not be that fond of Christmas, but I LOVE my tree and all the ornaments on it because it is like a 6 foot scrapbook.