Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christmas Memories

While cleaning up (and taking down Christmas),
I decided to document some of my favorite Christmas items and memories.

Like this first "original artwork" by Austin and Logan. 
Ornaments they made and we then sent to all our friends and family
the first year they were home, Christmas 2007.
I remember Gary and I sitting at the dining room table
(which we had moved to the living room in order
to make the dining room a play room - which Mason and Evan hated!)
We were emotionally spent, knowing that my father was approaching his final days
and yet we felt so amazingly blessed to have Austin and Logan in our laps,
fingers covered in paint
and through our tears, we each laughed several times
as we watched the twins have a ball creating these!

And this year's Preschool Creation:
Hand created and hand wrapped by each boy
and delivered to us with much delight Christmas morning!

One year, I did an all white theme.
And these white stockings I made (and had embroidered) are still my favorite!

And this picture below does not do these stockings justice,
But a sweet, sweet  little lady from church made the twins these stockings.
They are lined and super plush - I LOVE 'em!


A Guatemalan "keychain" ornament!

And thanks to a special woman at Gary's office,
Aunt Fran has generously decked out my tree
With lots of beautiful ornaments that look like this:
I will never, never tire of seeing ALL our names on the same ornament.
Little ole' me, who didn't "find" my family until I was over 30 years old!
Thought I'ld be single and alone forever!
;-)

And this year, we added two more beautiful ornaments.
Another woman at church decorates the children's tree in the Sunday School section. 
This year, I saw her putting these beautiful wooden owl ornaments
- handmade in Peru, all over the tree.
She has travelled a lot and has picked up some very unigue treasures.

On Christmas Eve, she told the children they could each take an ornament off the tree.
It was her gift to them.
Is that not the sweetest!?

I was THRILLED when Logan brought down one of the beautiful owls: 
 I mean, tell me you didn't just gasp

I asked Austin where his was, I didn't want him to loose it.
And my precious, unigue son, with glee all over his face said,
"I didn't get a bird, Mom.  LOOK!! Look what I got!!"

"It's GREEN!  My favorite color!!  Can you believe it!?"

And while I would have LOVED (LOVED) to have had
two gorgeous Peruvian wooden owls on my tree,
I think this ornament
will always hold a soft spot in my heart
as I place it on the tree for the next many years to come.
It completely represents a moment in time
where a Green Ball of Yarn
(handknitted, no less!)
was far more precious
in his eyes! 

7 comments:

Andrea said...

What an amazing post! I cherished each little sediment you described..even broght tears to my eyes. I too, love setting up the family tree each year and thinking about all the memories of each ornament. On a total side note, we just moved our kitchen table to make room for a play room in the dining room...it looks awesome!

Guatmama said...

I love that you cherish their choices and celebrate them as they are. We mom's sometimes want to shape those choices!

Anne said...

Love the Christmas memories. It is amazing the emotions an ornament can bring back. I love the wooden owl, so beautiful. And the yarn ball would make me tear up every year, so glad you let him choose what was special to him!

Bobbi said...

What a wonderful post! I enjoyed each of these ornaments, and their special meanings. I think I will do this next year.

My homemade ornaments certainly are my favorite

Tracey said...

Awesome post mamma! It is funny how it's hard to remember what you ate for dinner some days but you will always remember the where, who and when of the Christmas treasures. Super sweet!

Hannah said...

You had to have THE most beautiful tree I have ever seen. So much love and smiles are tied to it :)

LOVE you guys!

Steph said...

How wonderful!! I love how each ornament has a very special story. Very special indeed. I can see your boys sharing these memories every year as the ornaments adorn the tree once again.