The Message in My Christmas Tree

I thought it would be fun to snap some photos and share with you some of the ornaments on my tree. They are filled with sentimental value, so I thought it would be fun to share.

Ok in reality, it is probably not as much for my blogging friends as it is for me.  I thought it would be fun to get it down on paper, before I forget exactly where some of them came.  Though I have tried to keep records, I’m sure I have already forgotten a few.

Maybe you will enjoy looking at some of them.

This one is my favorite. My husband and son bought it for me several years ago. It has a place for a photo of our son, and a recorded message from him that says “I want you to keep this ornament forever.”  I could tell they had worked hard on getting the message just right. It was made when Matt was about 9 or maybe 10…of course it becomes more precious each year.

This one is probably my second favorite.  It was given to me by my mom in 1978.  It has my name and the year on it.  I absolutely love it…probably because it was one of my very first ornaments as an adult. She had bought one for every member of the family with their names engraved somewhere on the ornament.

Later she found this one for Matthew…all those years later! She wanted him to have one as well.  I couldn’t believe she found one. It was about 20 years later...and though you can't see it in this photo, his name is engraved on the bottom as well.

This one was given to us by my sister…an angel proclaiming the Good News. It is made from a clothes pin. My maternal grandma had taught us to make clothes pin dolls as children, so it has special meaning…there is a story about that, but that is for another time. Doubly special since my sis took the time to make them for each of us in our family and then hide them in our trees.
 

 

Every year I selected an ornament for Matthew that would represent something he had done or accomplished specifically in that year...something to remind us of the events of that year. This one I selected for Matt for this year.

 

This is Matt’s first ornament.

 

This is his first ornament from his Grandma M. She made it herself; it plays Jingle bells when you press on the little bear's belly.

 

 

These are representative of Matthew's love of trains when he was little. Matt’s paternal grandma and aunt were very good about getting him a train ornament each year.
 

 

These are from when Matt was fascinated with firemen. He was so sure he wanted to be one when he grew up…oh wait a minute! I guess some things never change!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two are especially meaningful to me because my niece made them for me when she was only about 6 or 7 years old.  She is in her 40's now. The little tree was once covered in colored sparkles, they are almost all rubbed away with time. 

 

 

And this one was made by my Auntie Norene...everyone in the family has at least one of these. She would forget that she had given you one and often give you another one in a Christmas card or when ever she saw you. I believe they are actually book marks, but I ended up with so many, I decided to use them as tree ornaments.

 

For Sam/Daddy...one of his nick names being Yosemite Sam!

 

One from each of my siblings over the years.
 

 

 

One to represent our patriotic beliefs. Matt picked this one out several years ago.

 

 

 

And of course the true meaning of  Christmas.

 

 

"For unto you is born this day, in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"

Luke 2: 11

 

How cool is that!

Merry Christmas!!

 

Jan