Heirloom Ornaments

Heirloom Ornament.JPG

The last few days have definitely been warning us that winter is on it’s way.  For a long time we were spoiled when it came to our daily temperatures. We had a brush with winter a few weeks back when we had some snowfall but that melted and we were back to unseasonably warm days.

My husband has been using the nice weather to do last minute fall things like insulating crawl spaces, caulking cracks in the foundation and sealing all those little places that make an old farm house drafty.  With the cold, windy weather of the last few days he has been scrambling to finish those projects.

The cold weather has also pushed me to put up the Christmas tree.  (Son #2 could not believe we had not put it up yet.) My husband hauled the Christmas tubs out of the rafters in the garage, put the Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD on and I was good to go. I will say, now that it is up, it does look a lot more festive in our home.

It was fun to see the old ornaments again. There are some hanging on our tree that were on my parents first Christmas tree and some that were on my in law’s tree years ago. Those are the ornaments that tend to get put high up in the tree…..safely out of reach of small grandkids who love to touch and handle things.

I love the fact that I have these old ornaments. It makes our tree feel special knowing that those ornaments graced a tree when my husband and I were kids. I have great hopes that some of them will survive to hang on trees at my children’s homes. I figure they have survived years of children, grandchildren, and cats climbing trees….they should make it through another generation.

There is something precious about those ornaments that have survived.  They are scratched, have slightly chipped paint and are weathered…..one of them is even missing a little piece towards the top; but they are beautiful. They speak of faithfulness, years of our families celebrating Christmas and traditions that span generations.

They have been hung on trees, real and artificial, year after year by two young couples who became parents, then turned into grandparents and now into great grandparents. For me those old glass ornaments are shiny, twinkly testaments to a love that continues to persevere 60 plus years later.

A few years ago I tried a tree that was full of burgundy colored ornaments and white lights. I figured our children had all moved out and it was a good time to transition into a more “adult” tree. Those decorations lasted a couple years, through much grumbling and discontent, and then the white lights started burning out. ( I am still not sure that my husband and sons did not have something to do with that.)

The multi-colored lights and variety of ornaments are again decking the tree; so once again, all is calm and all is bright (and multi-colored) in our home during the Christmas season!  Once again our tree boasts of a few heirloom ornaments nestled in it’s top branches.

The traditions continue as we prepare to celebrate our Savior’s birth. May you be blessed with old traditions and making new family memories with your loved ones.

The best gifts in life will never be found under a Christmas tree!
Those gifts are friends, family, kids and the one you love!

Unknown quotes 

Read more: http://www.searchquotes.com/search/Funny_Christmas_Tree/4/#ixzz4SPKsHkBV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

45 thoughts on “Heirloom Ornaments”

  1. A Simple Village Undertaker says:
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    Yes, Winter is now upon us and time to bring out the TSO cds. I attended their shows, three years in a row in the mid-2000s. Probably the best concerts I have ever been too. For me these days, Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” along with Winston’s “December” are the transitional albums.

    Stay warm.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. peggyjoan42 says:
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    Nice post. We also have ornaments that hold sentimental value to us. Memories of past Christmas are always cherished. Tell your kids – the older you get the longer and later chores get done and Christmas trees get put up. Lol

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Anne Mehrling says:
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    Old ornaments are so special! John finished putting up our tree yesterday. I didn’t think the tree looked any larger than past ones, but he said he used every ornament we had! He even filled spaces with cute photos of our grandsons that are housed in ugly children-created frames from grade school. We have ornaments from the 52 years we’ve put up a tree, including some we bought when we had a Christmas in England and one in Germany. We don’t have any from our parents. My folks were never very enthusiastic about decorating, so they had none that were worth preserving. They celebrated the reason for Christmas, but without the trappings. John’s sister probably has the Mehrling ornaments. We may not have antique ornaments, but our grandsons have expressed interest in having ours some day. I feel sure that they will be treasured and hung with care. I’m so glad you wrote about decorating your tree and caused me to think of ours.

    Liked by 1 person

    • thechickengrandma says:
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      When my sons got their own homes I gave them their ornaments so I do not have those anymore (the child created frames). Your tree sounds very special with it’s ornaments from different places in the world. They always bring back memories!

      Liked by 1 person

    • thechickengrandma says:
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      I always smile when I read your posts!! There are so many times we seem to parallel each other and that is so cool. I am imagining the Rabbit Patch is one of the prettiest places around at Christmas.
      I have about 10 really old ornaments from our folks. One got broken last year when the grandson took it off the tree so now I put them in the high branches.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. tierneycreates says:
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    Wow reading this post I got a super sentimental feeling and thought of the special ornaments my family had when I was growing up that came from their parents. They were so fragile these glass ornaments and I remember one time when one dropped and broke – yikes! Nice post 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Deb says:
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    You are so right about all those memories being held in those ornaments! I just put my tree up tonight. I wasn’t even going to put one up this year, I did consider getting one of those flip trees but now that I hear of your experience, I’ll stick with what I have. I too love the multi-colored lights over the white lights. The white lights are very pretty, but I prefer color. So you think there was some conspiracy in getting rid of that other tree huh??? Lol! It has gotten very cold here too…and Monday we are supposed to have a measureable snowfall!

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. kindergartenknowledge says:
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    Your tree sounds so heartwarming and beautiful and traditional. I like to think about your heirloom ornaments and how many Christmas Days they have seen and the lilting sounds of loving family that they have heard! I have ornaments that belonged to my Mama and Daddy. I loved Christmas at my parent’s house! I lost them when I was in my early thirties when our children were little. So sad and yet my Dad was heartbroken without my Mom. He was gone six weeks to the day after we lost her. I felt like it was truly part of God’s Master Plan. It made me so happy that they were together again. They loved Christmas decorations and Christmas music and Christmas food and candlelight Christmas processions at our church. I suppose that traditions are incredibly important to me…and to you!

    Liked by 1 person

    • thechickengrandma says:
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      It is sometimes hard to understand God’s plan but I am sure for your dad it was hard to be without your mom. It is amazing to me to think of our loved ones celebrating Jesus’ birthday with Him! What a celebration that must be.
      I love the different family holiday traditions as you do.

      Liked by 1 person

      • kindergartenknowledge says:

        What a wonderful birthday celebration to spend time thinking about! When I taught those 18 years in public schools, it was so difficult for me not to mention Jesus’ birthday and the joy that we should be feeling. Having taught in our church day school previously…wow! What an adjustment! However, my last school was right at 100% Hispanic and most of the children were Catholic. I did not even have to worry about not talking about Jesus! They constantly would tell me about Jesus and their favorite Bible stories! My years with these mostly very devout children was joyful…truly joyful at Christmas!!! I am not Catholic, but I did admire their obvious devotion! Yes…what peace it gives me to know that my mom and dad and Justin (our son) are together having glorious moments with Him!

        Liked by 1 person

      • thechickengrandma says:

        I think it would have been so difficult to not speak of Jesus at this time of year as a teacher. My sons went to our local Christian school so we did not have that. A lot of my cousins went to public school and their Christmas programs were so different than ours. I am glad there are Christian teachers in our public schools!! Your life was your witness.

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  13. goldenbrodie says:
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    I too am saddened by the void of the birth of Jesus in school. The art teachers are stressed..snow scenes….winter scenes…that is the focus on the paintings & projects…no sign of the coming or of Santa for that matter. We do have a Baptist Church, lovely wooden Pre-civil war chapel & each year the elders build a crèche & on eve 24 there is a live manger scene!
    A camel, sheep, a donkey and folks dressed in the style. It’s renewing. So far no one has complained. Loved your post as always.

    Liked by 1 person

    • thechickengrandma says:
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      It is a pretty basic tree that we bought years ago at a Lewis drug end of season sale. We used to have a real tree but it was always a battle with me and my husband (his family always had artificial). It was a time to choose my battles and a real or fake tree was not one worth fighting :). Most of the ornaments on it are ones we have had for a long time. It is good the lights kind of hide the small chips in the paint on those glass balls. They are well loved :).

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jessica says:

        Real trees are great. I have a childhood full of Christmas’ going with my family tree and it being so huge every year that it almost touched the ceiling.

        It was nice of you to agree to am artificial one. That’s what we have too. That day 6 years ago when we needed a tree, the weather was awful! The roads were bad and it was frigid. Too cold for going to get a real tree 50 miles away. So we bought a 7 foot fake tree.

        Love what you said about having the ornaments for a long time. That ranks high up in the things I love about Christmas- unpacking the ornaments Little Bit has made over the years.

        I bet your painted glass ornaments are lovely. I wonder what happened to my grandma’s ornaments. I sure wish I had one. ❤️ Those glass ones were such vibrant colors.

        Liked by 1 person

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