Sunday, December 24, 2017

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments #4: Gifted


WEEK 1:  My Favorite Vintage Ornaments
WEEK 2:  My Favorite Homemade Ornaments
WEEK 3:  My Favorite Store-bought Ornaments

WEEK 4:  This is the final week for sharing my favorite Christmas ornaments. Today is about some of the ornaments that were given to us as gifts (not including the ones that were already mentioned in previous posts.)

Friends of ours, The Snowdens, gave this to us - I'm thinking it was 2 or 3 years ago. It is a favorite because it reminds me of our two cats, Aggie and Dutchess, who were with us for 18 and 19 years. This ornament, and another one that says "PURRR" are memorials to these special cats.

A friend of mine, Debra, gave this to me the Christmas before we both went our separate ways to college. It is engraved with the year I graduated from High School.

My sister, Judith, crocheted these ornaments for us when David and I were newly married. The bigger one is crocheted around a small red ornament; and for the smaller one, she used a  plastic cap from a water bottle. I love them because they were crafted for us with Judy's time, and with her love. I put them on our tree every year.
 
I don't remember who gave this one to us, but it says, "Our First Christmas Together - 1992" It was a wedding gift.

Luke 2:14 - “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season, remembering the good times you have had in the past, and making new memories this year with family and friends. Above all, be at peace, because the Prince of Peace was born to bring you hope.

Merry Christmas! 

Sunday, December 17, 2017

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments #3: Store-bought


WEEK 1: I shared My Favorite Vintage Ornaments
WEEK 2:  I shared My Favorite Homemade Ornaments
WEEK 3 brings us to some of My Favorite Store-bought Ornaments

There are 4 store-bought ornaments in this photo. The gold ball on the left and the red ball on the right I bought during a Christmas clearance sale one year to help fill in the gaps on our new artificial tree. Those are nice, but not really favorites. However, the snowman ball and the angel ornament are special because they were recently handed down to us from David's mom and dad. The clear snowflake in the top photo is also from them.


In remembrance of my dad, and our first Christmas without him, I bought this ornament new this year from Personalization Mall. It says "Forever in Our Hearts" and is  a new favorite of mine. 

Luke 2:10 - And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.(ESV)

Sunday, December 10, 2017

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments #2: Homemade



As I mentioned last week, every ornament on our Christmas tree has a story to tell. Some were on our tree when I was growing up, some are homemade, some are store-bought, and some were given to us as gifts.

Today,  I share about some favorite homemade ornaments on our tree...

 
This is only two, out of I think 8, ornaments that I painted for mine and David's first Christmas tree. They are plastic, but are meant to look like stained glass. We didn't have any ornaments of our own yet, so I decided to get an ornament kit and paint these.


The kids and I made these salt-dough ornaments in 2005. JJ was almost 3 years old. EL was 7. It was a fun project to cut, bake, and paint these ornaments. We gave some away as gifts that year, and kept some for ourselves.


Some dear friends of ours made us several ornaments made of pinecones. They make our artificial tree look a little more real.


This photo shows two more homemade ornaments. The one with JJ in the frame was made at the local nursing home several years ago at a Christmas event for children. The round one above it was made in 2004. It has JJ's thumbprint on it, and I added a stick person's body to it, then wrote the words "Thumb body loves you!" I have one that EL made also (not shown), but I made her thumbprint into a flower shape and wrote, "Thumb flowers never fade." We gave these away as gifts that year, and didn't keep any for ourselves, but these specific ones found their way onto our tree after Grandma Mac passed away in 2013. So, they are special because they have the kids thumbprints on them, and are also special because they belonged to Grandma.

Luke 6:38 - Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (ESV)

Sunday, December 3, 2017

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments #1: Vintage


Our family has made the personal choice to observe Jesus Christ's birth every year by celebrating Christmas with family and friends. One of the traditions we have during this time of year is to decorate a Christmas tree. It is a special time of family togetherness, and a great time to reminisce.

Every year when we decorate our tree, it is like taking a walk down "memory lane." Every ornament has a story to tell. Some were on our family tree when I was growing up, some are homemade, some are store-bought, and some were given to us as gifts.

During the month of December, I will share some of my favorite ornaments with you and tell you why they are special to me.

Today,  I share about some of the vintage ornaments on our tree...


The original Shiny Brite* company was a producer of popular American-made glass Christmas tree ornaments. According to my mom, this box of assorted ornaments was most likely purchased at Woolworth's in Springfield, IL (a popular "five and dime" store) in the late 1960's. The ornaments are special to me because they were used on our family tree when I was growing up.  I especially liked the teardrop shapes, like the one in the photo at top, and in the photo below.

*You can read about the history of the Shiny Brite company on the Manchester Township website, under HISTORY.


The blue one in this photo is my favorite out of the Shiny Brite collection. No real reason - I just like the color. And, along with this ornament, you can also see a painted bear made of wood. I remember helping my mom paint this bear when I was very little, maybe 4 or 5 years old. My brother and sister painted some of these wooden shapes as well.


This one was a personalized metal angel ornament given to me by our dear friends, The Moores. It has been on our family tree since I was about 10 years old. It's always a favorite to hang up and remember the friendship we had (and continue to have) with the family who gave it to me.

Here is a full look at our Christmas tree this year. Come back next Sunday to get an up-close look of some of the homemade ornaments that are special to me.

Our 2017 Christmas Tree

John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.