Sunday, December 13, 2009

The phases of Christmas Decor


Christmas ornaments are like a mini time capsule that we take out and review once a year.
Never able to throw the old ones away, we manage to sift through them every year, deciding what goes on the tree, and what just stays in the storage boxes.

As I sifted through my ornaments this year, I was reminded of our first Christmas after getting married. It was 1982 and we'd been married 6 months. We had a little apartment and no tree or decorations at all. So we went out, bought the tree, and all the ornaments at one time. That tree was a small and sad little artificial tree, and all my ornaments were either clear or white. Sounds pretty, but I had no decorating talents yet, and looking back it was wanting in so many areas.

Then as the years passed and children were born, the tree got larger. Decorating it turned into a family event and I got a little better at it, but with the kids wanting me to hurry, it was always a little less perfect than I had wanted.

This would be the years when the tree was filled with kid made ornaments, home made ornaments, primitive and of course Noah's ark (I went through a phase).

Sometime after 2000 I got into my blow glass figural ornaments phase, and amassed quite a collection. Everything from Fitz & Floyd to the Kmart special

Recently I'm into vintage. I just love all things old and my tree has it's share of vintage on it.

But of course there are the blown glass, home made, kid made, primitive, Noah's arks, and yes I still have 2 of the ornaments from that first sad little tree.


Whether I choose to put the ornaments on the tree, or leave them stored in their box, I always enjoy sifting through them and remembering Christmases past.



11 comments:

Shelby said...

OH I so enjoyed finding your blog today and perusing.. the music is lovely too.. I have some of those pieces playing at my place too.

cheers.

CC said...

Loved the ornaments you're showing, and I really like the music selection..

trash talk said...

We say we're going through the ornaments, but we're just going through our minds and all the wonderful Christmas pasts....even sad little first trees are magical when viewed through the eyes of children...and those in love. Remind me to tell you sometime about our sad little first tree!
Debbie

Andi's English Attic said...

Nothing like Christmas to put us in a nostalgic mood. It's lovely that you still have some decorations from your first married Christmas. xx

Vickie said...

Me, too, Margo. I had a bunch of ornaments from Hallmark with all the years on them, too. It really did bring lots of memories back. Some of the bread dough ornaments have crumbled and some of them had bent or been broken. The homemade ones by my kids are still my favorites tho. I have begun on the vintage ones, too, as I come across them, but I think I'll have my own little vintage tree with those. The family still wants all their favorites. Good post!

Anonymous said...

Your trees & ornaments brought back memories! When we married mega yrs ago..I didn't realize I didn't have that many ornaments..Mom came through & saved the day..hence my "old" ornaments..I treasure those today. Our tree has gone through the phases..my favs are the oldies and every one that has a memory.
:) Jan

Mindy said...

Aww! I loved going down memory lane with you! Funny, the phases we go through. ~Mindy

Simply Shelley said...

Love this post Margo....hope your Christmas season is wonderfully blessed...........

TinaTx said...

You said it exactly the way it is for most of us I imagine. When my kids were little they put their own ornaments on the tree - this year I did all of them. It's just not the same to do it by yourself.(they each have a box of ornaments that they can take whenever they are ready to do their own tree and I add a new ornament every year - my tree will be looking mighty sparse when they all decide to take them!)

red.neck chic said...

LOL You're so cute!!! I love your first Christmas picture!!! I wish I had taken pictures of my tree each year... I was like you with the matching ornaments, etc. Isn't the vintage so fun though?!!! Not only do we get to mix it in with our favorites (kid made AND our "phases") but just imagine - they were somebody else's favorites too!

Your "today" ornaments are gorgeous!!!

;-) Robelyn

Debbie P. said...

You hit the nail on the head! Now I don't feel so bad if all the ornaments don't make it to the tree but they are fun to go through! Love the old photo's! Wouldn't it be great to make ornaments out of old photo's?

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