Friday, December 11, 2009

Christmas favorites, part 2

Shortly before she died almost 30 years ago (and I still miss her) my mother embroidered ornaments for me and my siblings. I have about a dozen including this poinsettia, two Christmas trees, a star, an angel, a wreath, and others. Of course I carefully distribute them around the tree, interspersed with other handmade ornaments--things I made as a kid, things Peter and Abby made, and quite a few Santas needlepointed by Peter's mother, who died last March.

In this photo from a couple of years ago (our tree will go up next week), we see a beautiful blown-glass orb that was a wedding gift, a clever Santa suit that we bought on a trip, a dainty bird-in-a-nest that is sort of outdoorsy and sort of Victorian, and a regal reindeer.

Both the kids' tree and ours have several reindeer. It seems that every year beginning when Abby was very young, Blitzen has left her a Christmas letter and a gift of a reindeer that he fancies looks like himself. His letters have offered advice and encouragement through all of her life changes, but apparently he also can be a little full of himself, or so I'm told. Anyway, once in a while Peter and I spot a really special, audacious reindeer that we add to our tree as a kind of tribute to good old Blitzen.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Decorations have really changed over the years. When people began to buy trees and decorate them during WWII, the ornaments were round glass balls and popcorn on strings and the lights were huge and didn't do much in red, green and blue with one or two white ones.

Your decorations are nice and very original.

Ms Sparrow said...

How wonderful that you have all those memories tied to your Christmas ornaments. And what a beautiful legacy for your kids and grandkids!

Unknown said...

Thanks for visiting today, seems we have a bit in common. I also provide daycare for my grand kids. Have a great weekend!

gayle said...

You are so lucky that you have ornaments that your mom made. My mom died in 1968 ...will always miss her ...she was only 38...not sure where all her ornaments went.

Carol said...

I love meaningful ornaments old and new

Far Side of Fifty said...

Beautiful ornaments..with lovely memories! Thanks for sharing! Cute about the reindeer!! :)

Michelle said...

Oh very cool - those are some great bits of embroidery (is bits the right word?). I'm impressed with her talent.

And whoever told Blitzen that it was a good idea to leave a note? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

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