The importance of ornaments
To say I’m a freak about my box of ornaments is an understatement.
I get panicky when my husband takes it down from the attic, and I won’t let my kids touch it while we decorate our Christmas tree.
The box contains ornaments of all shapes and sizes — round, flat, glass, plastic, homemade, store-bought — and each one tells a story from a special time and place. From South Carolina to South America, the collection is like a window into all 40 years of my life.
My mom made Christmas so special. She loved the season and amassed oodles of decorations over the years. Snowmen lined the mantle, a gathering of angels filled one side table. We would go to a farm and cut down our own tree, then listen to Christmas records while drinking egg nog and decorating at home.
Maybe my mom wanted to make up for the less-than-stellar holidays she had growing up or maybe she was excited to make the most of her penchant for crafts. Either way, she was always full of surprises and eager to create traditions with her family. She gave me and my two siblings a new ornament each year, and always tried to make it relevant.
One year when I took ice skating lessons, she gave me a little ice skater ornament with my name and the year delicately engraved on it. I have multiple penguin ornaments — penguins skiing, a penguin talking on a cell phone, a penguin reading a book — when I declared that penguins were my favorite animal.
One of my most cherished ornaments is from my first Christmas. It’s just a little white bear figurine with a pink scarf, but it’s porcelain and sweet, and I love picturing my mom picking it out for me.
I should probably find a safer way to store my precious ornaments, but even the simple cardboard box has meaning. It once held a case of Girl Scout cookies, but the Striped Chocolate Chip variety made with chocolate chips and pecans is no longer sold. In black sharpie on the top and on the side, it reads “Pam’s Ornaments” in my mom’s distinct handwriting. I’ve had the same box for my ornaments for at least 20 years, I’m not about to change it now. Especially since my mom was my Girl Scout leader for years, the box has even more significance.
Last year, when my daughter was 5 and the excitement of Christmas was embedded in her eyes, opening each box of decorations was an awe-filled experience. After we brought home our fresh tree, she was super pumped to start decorating. Sure, she has a box of ornaments that she shares with her brother, but she wanted to rifle through my ornaments and it was hard to resist the urge to snatch the entire box from her tiny hands. Instead, I hovered nervously and helped her hang each ornament securely. It also gave me the chance to talk about each item and describe where it came from and who gave it to me.
Carrying on the yearly ornament tradition with my children has been fun. Every time we go somewhere on vacation, I try to get an ornament from that place. This year we went to Hawaii and while we were still in the store, my 7-year-old son dropped the ornament I had just bought. Luckily it wasn’t too fragile, but it did end up slightly cracked from the fall. I’m kind of shocked it survived the long journey home, and now I like it even more with its slight imperfection.
Growing up, my ornaments always meant a lot to me, but after my mom died, the box and its contents are invaluable.
Opening the box brings back memories of my mom that make me think of her smile and her love. I often feel flooded with sadness that she’s not here to celebrate with us. But I also feel happy to have a special ornament box from her to share with my kids during a holiday that she so enjoyed. It’s something I will always treasure.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOLIDAY TRADITIONS?
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