Ornaments: More than Decorations

Last night we pulled out the Christmas ornament collection and began gingerly placing our treasures on our Christmas tree.

For me, Christmas ornaments are more than just a decoration, they are memories. My most favorite part of the Holiday season is to pull ornaments out of the box and reminisce about years gone by. Our oldest child is 15, and pulling out his "Baby's First Christmas" ornament from 1993 took me way back to a time where there was a six month old baby boy sitting in his bouncy seat, completely oblivious to the moment, while his mom and dad delightfully hung an ornament in his honor.

We have a tradition here for Christmas. Every year, each of us chooses a new ornament, then we write our names on it with the date. When the boys are grown and get married, they will have a box full of ornaments to take with them for their first Christmas with their wives, each with the dates commemorating the year they chose each ornament. And my tree will have empty spots.....and I will cry. I'm starting to think this was a bad idea. None-the-less, we have a good time looking at the ornaments and remembering, "Here's the one you chose when you were 2, and look at the one you chose when you were 7..."

There are also other ornaments with other memories. The ones Frank and I bought on our honeymoon in the mountains, with our names and date on them, the ones that were given to us by dear friends, a pretty ornament that says "daughter" that my mom gave me, an ornament with my picture on it when I was 17 years old and had given it to Frank when we first started dating, the ones that were homemade: the snowman made from a baby's sock, the glass ornaments filled with small seashells from a vacation one year at the beach, salt dough ornaments dating back to the very early years made and painted by two very little boys. Each ornament holding a precious memory.

My all time favorite is a 1996 Hallmark ornament depicting the nativity scene. Every year, Frank and I wrap that ornament up and bring it into the boys' room on Christmas morning. Then we read the Christmas story from a Children's Bible, and the youngest child gets to open the ornament. They know what it is, it's the special Christmas ornament showing us what Christmas is all about. After we read the story and open the ornament, we all go out into the living room and place the traditional treasure on the tree before we open gifts.

Our ornaments are all on the tree now, and the tree is lit with pretty white lights. And to visitors, it's just another tree with interesting ornaments. But to me, it's a living memory tree, filled with years of laughter and joy and surprises and love.