December 16th, 2019

Bringing out the Christmas decorations every year gets me a little sappy. So many of them evoke special memories. This ornament didn't even make it on the tree, my daughter just handed it to me as I was decorating the sideboard. She said she knew it was a favorite because it was really "vintagey." She was right.

 Then there was the year when we did everything in blue, all blue ornaments and lights. Not too many of the blue glass balls are left. Johnny decided to throw one and to his surprise, it shattered into a million pieces. He thought it was a regular ball.

Then there was the red and white themed year. We had two trees that year, one upstairs and one downstairs.

This ornament  was given to me by my mother-in-law. She knew how much I loved Christmas. It holds a special place in my heart. It reminds me of her love and acceptance into her family.

My sister-in-law, Yvonne gave me this one. It is tin and beautifully painted.

My girls did Irish Step dancing for years. We had a love hate relationship with it. 

Tommy Gouthro, who was a teacher I used to teach with, made this. It brings back great memories of him working in the wood shop at the middle school. He was a well loved gym teacher, who has since passed. My husband and I still miss him.

This well worn ornament was a baby's first Christmas ornament. It was given to us when Maddie was born.

I asked Sarah to pick out an ornament that she liked. She picked this one. I asked her why. She said, "Because the feet are chewed off." I'll leave it at that, a typical Sarah reply.

This is the backside of my favorite ornament. This was from our first married Christmas. We had decided to make presents for everyone. I was painting little wooden hearts and was struggling. Painting is not my talent. John said "Let me help you. "In about 5 minutes he painted this:

That was it! I put everything away. I couldn't compete with that. No one got a painted heart from me that year, but I got one.

While taking pictures for this blog, I noticed something on the mantle that I did not put there, the glass doorknob with the tree attached to it. Wow, how cute! I asked my husband where it came from. He told me he made it and put it there. I know what I will love to put out and remember next year.