Today’s post comes from Barbara in Rivertown.
I happened to come upon an article online this week titled “This is What It Means When You See a Bird’s Nest Ornament on a Christmas Tree.” According the German company Inge Glas in a 2005 ornament description: “The [bird’s nests] represent the love, commitment, and effort it takes to build a happy home. Bird nests are also good-luck symbols. Legend has it that prosperity will come to any home that finds a bird’s nest nestled among the branches of the family Christmas tree.” My nesting bird is not on a tree – it’s on the upper shelf of my buffet – but I still remember how I was attracted to it in the shop where I bought it.
Other ornaments that have meaning for me are a few remaining spherical glass balls made by Shiny Brite – the striped ones especially, thought there are lots of different vintage designs pictured here:
I can remember, at maybe four years of age, standing on tip-toe to see my reflection in them. They’ve apparently become so popular they’re back in production.
Do you have a meaningful Christmas ornament or decoration in possession, or in memory?
What are you doing this week to celebrate the holidays?
Trail Baboon 
Morning all. When my parents were first married and I was very young, we didn’t have a lot of money so my folks couldn’t really afford any fancy ornaments. My mother bought a set of small red shiny bulbs and she painted on them for decoration. I have the last one of these bulbs left – it has three little stick figures on it with the words “We three”. This was before my middle sister was born. I keep it in a separate box inside the ornament box but thanks to the terrible kitty who cannot leave the ornaments alone, it has not been on the tree for seven years.
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Awww… Yes, I think it’s better to keep in the box for now.
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Yep. And all the Ukrainian eggs are in their boxes as well.
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My daughter and her family will have three Christmases this year, which extends a tradition for our family. Last night we had a Christmas Eve gathering. This morning will be an intimate experience for my daughter, son-in-law and my grandson. Later today we might again for a meal and a few gifts in the home of my sil’s mother, a quirky home built over a hundred years ago on the US bank of the Saint Clare River.
Last night was a joy. I have seen eight-year-olds celebrating Christmas in orgies of greed, so I wondered how my grandson would handle the event. He was amazing. He enjoyed his gifts but also shared in the joys adults felt when opening theirs. More remarkably, he himself had chosen several gifts for adults, and his choices reflected his affection for others and a deft sense of what would please his favorite grownups. Our little family is trying to address several difficult issues, as are many other people I care about, and yet last night all the scary stuff was shelved in favor of a glowing evening of shared love.
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Urgh! “Later on we meet again.”
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The more I hear about him, the more unique your grandson seems. It is a mystery to me how we all get some of our traits from our upbringing, but I think there’s also something that comes in with us when we are born.
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I agree, Barbara. I’m also inclined to think he has an especially good mother.
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Update. My grandson has a cold, so I am staying home from our ongoing Christmas celebrations. My mother got the flu one Christmas evening, and that ended her life. My health is precarious enough to make me risk-averse in these matters.
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Our Christmas celebration is rather food-centric (thank goodness the grownup kids can do all the work). This morning we’re having potica and an egg bacon bake. Later today we’ll have marinated chicken wings. One of my girls made a couple of our favorite cookies and the three best home bakers in Minneapolis gave us lavish amounts of their homemade cookies (we’re managing to make a good dent in those).
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That ABD is littlejailbird. A happy Christmas to all the baboons!
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And to you, Edith. I hope many more wonderful Christmases await you.
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What ages are your kids now, ljb?
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30, 28, 23.
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Great – old enough to do EVERYthing.
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The row of cards in the picture on the buffet (in front of the mirror) are the ones made by our own VS. I love seeing them all together like that – all the different colors and designs.
Another favorite ornament is a set of three angels, given to me by Thelma from my first Kindergarten class lo these many decades ago.
Today we are having Christmas dinner with friends at a house very near here. Tomorrow we travel to the cities for a small Hassing gathering at his sister’s, returning Thursday. My sister doesn’t arrive for her visit till Jan. 1, so we will postpone our Christmas with Mom till then.
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Yesterday I posted a lovely video of a song about Christmas ornaments. If you didn’t watch it, please do, it really is lovely. Bonus point, can anyone identify the person holding up the tiny mukluks near the end?
Perhaps one of the reasons I love this little video is because of all the memories wrapped up in my collection of ornaments. Every year when I pull the box out, it’s like a walk down memory lane. Many of these ornaments are handmade of paper, and some are pretty frayed around the edges from years of use, but they are such a fount of memories of different times, places, and friends. Most of these ornaments have no monetary value but are true treasures to me. It saddens me to think they’ll be garbage once I’m gone.
Late this afternoon, we’re getting together with a bunch of neighbor friends for a casual sharing of our left-overs. Most of us celebrated Christmas Eve. At the end of the week, we’ll host a traditional Danish smørrebrød feast, and we celebrate New Year’s Day with our friend Philip at his tiny home. It’ll be crowded, but there’s plenty of good will to go around, and plenty of good food, too.
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I was hoping you’d repost that, PJ.
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I have a lot of German glass ornaments from my mother. They are all older than I am, and I love them . My favorite is a white one with dark grey and pink designs on it. The cats love the little Norwegian and Swedish Nisser and Tomtens that have furry beards. We found four of them on the floor yesterday. They have not yet climbed the tree. It is a fir tree and is probably too dense to climb. They like curling up on the tree skirt and peering out from under the low branches. Daughter is in the air and she and friend will get to Bismarck tonight well ahead of the storm.
Son and DIL gave me a 550 page encyclopedic and very comprehensive Nordic Baking Book, which has more recipes in it than I would ever be able to make in a life time. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of Icelandic and Finnish lefses. Each recipe has the name of the baked good in every language, including those from the Faroe Islands.
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This year I spent a considerable amount of time repairing an ornament. It was made for me by a member of my book club many many years ago. She’s not in the book club anymore and in fact we’re not even in touch and haven’t been for many years but it was a handmade ornament . She was an artist and did papercraft craft art. It’s a wonderful snowman with hat and carrot nose and scarf. I’ve always loved it so when it lost its little head last year I tucked it away carefully so that I would remember to repair it this year. I think it’s good for many years ago if I can keep it away from the cat and the dog.
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Rise and shine baboons,
We celebrated with my son and his partner over the weekend by going to the Cantus concert. Rather than giving each other gifts, we try to do things we really enjoy together.
Now we are at the southern edge of Colorado heading into New Mexico on our way to Arizona. So far it has been a smooth drive and we will be missing the big storm that rolls into this part of the country tomorrow.
I collect Christmas ornaments when I travel. Then every year when I put them on my tree, we talk about all the trips we’ve taken over the last 35 years from new England to Italy to Mexico and many other places. It’s really fun.
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do you do a tree when you aren’t anywhere on christmas or rather are between locations?
we used to go to florida the day after christmas and debbie would take the tree down before we left . then we spent christmas in florida and the tree in florida was a big deal
this year we do a three ina row celebration
my dads birthday was the 23 and we drink a shot of chivas regal in his honor
face time my sons family in phoenix
the christmas eve is fondue time slant wife’s history one for meat one for tempura one cheese fondue
the christmas day especially with new grandkid will become s tradition where we facetime with pheonix for that too . secret santa gift exchange fun fun days
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We did a tree in this year, then took it down Sunday, although there is still stuff sitting in the family room downstairs, which can wait until we get home. I have really reduced the number of decorations I put up, but I do like the tree. It has to be a fake tree because I am allergic to the real ones ( and poinsettias). Several years ago when we in AZ for Christmas we put up a tiny one, and decorated there, but it did not pass muster.
In Albuquerque tonight eating the picnic lunch we brought in the cooler for Christmas. We will arrive at the condo in Fountain Hills about 3pm tomorrow. On the way back the first of February, we are stopping in Taos to check that out. We were going to go on the way down, but apparently that is a popular Christmas haunt. Rooms were about $500 per night! Gasp.
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What a nice tradition, and way to remember your trips!
Would love to hear Cantus some time.
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Hello Kids- Merry Christmas!
Thanks for sharing your stories of the celebrations and your ornaments.
We have some glass ornaments, sort of lime green with stars on them that I always liked as a kid. There are only 2 left… Also, a paper-mache’ wrapped light bulb with a piece of yarn in it that I made in elementary school. The thread is getting pretty bare but it’s still hanging in there.
Kelly has a lot of cloth ornaments, lace things and, considering what I grew up with, nontraditional type ornaments so our tree is a mix of a lot of different things.
We hosted my side for Christmas on the 22nd. I put some lights up for a church service yesterday. Nice service of mostly music, and a quick strike and were home by 9PM.
Had a quiet day of just us three today, and still have to do Kelly’s family next week.
We have a pretty quiet week planned and we’re ALL looking forward to it. Boy, going back to work on 1/2 will be tough on everyone.
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I like services like that, mostly music.
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This year I took on a project with these two ceramic pixies that belonged to my aunt, who is in hospice now. They had gotten broken years ago and had their limbs glued back on. Over time a few hands and legs had fallen off again. Last weekend I bought a sort of a glass house, which might have been intended to be a terrarium, at a hobby shop, and put the little pixies inside with a mini Christmas tree and a string of those tiny LED lights wound around the tree. Also took some gold garland and wrapped it around the pixies’ reglued hands to try to disguise the repaired spots, so it would look like they were hanging the garland around the house.
I took the finished project over to my aunt’s room at the care center and showed it to her. It got a sort of faint smile, and she said it was pretty, so I suppose that was a success. Not much makes her smile anymore.
Had a pleasant day at my sister’s today. I’m sort of glad it’s over, though. It seemed like I didn’t get much done this year.
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there’s always next year
i like your project
sorry to hear about your aunt
hospice takes your smiles and puts a different perspective on it. a half a smile is a ein in that situation
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Would love to see a photo of this project.
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Holidays, especially Christmas, come with too many expectations that we feel obliged to live up to. Too much fake cheer and merriment doesn’t cut the mustard for a lot of folks. Personally I have wonderful memories connected to Christmas, and I also have some very sad ones, and I think it’s important to honor both.
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Good advice.
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Daughter and best friend are safe in Bismarck. We spent the day cleaning and baking, preparatory to her arrival on Friday. Husband may leave for the rez tomorrow if the storm isn’t too bad. We may get 7 inches. Fargo may get a foot.
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Uffda!
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