The Christmas Tree - Helping Our Family Remember our Past

Having monuments, celebrations, and ceremonies are important to help us all remember our roots and be thankful for the good and learn from the bad.

I am so thankful that my wife Kathy and I still get to celebrate Christmas with a tree laden with ornaments that recall the past.

I know that it is popular now to have a tree decorated with a theme or a certain color. Most of those trees in my family are BORING!

I delight to watch my grandchildren touch the ornaments and ask about the ones that pique their fancy.

My wife did discard a few of the really old ornaments. Remember those ornaments made out of dough and then baked really hard that were popular in the seventies? No, you probably don't. You are either too young or you were too "enlightened" to make ornaments that would eventually disintegrate.

Well a few years ago Kathy noticed that some of those "seventy specials" were getting a little moldy. I was dumbfounded that she would throw any of the "precious ones" away.

We are blessed to have many old ornaments that bring back special memories which were made of more lasting materials.

I will share just a few in this blog post. Gardening is one of many themes on our tree. Over the years people have given Kathy and I unique gardening ornaments. I think my favorite is still the "Santa Radish." Someone had the genius of carving a Santa out of the center of a carrot, well no, not a real carrot, a ceramic one. Another of my favorite is the wheelbarrow loaded with gardening tools and supplies.

I am so blessed to now have grandchildren to share the stories of the remembrances captured in these old and precious ornaments.