The 12 Days of Christmas, Day 8: My Mismatched Ornament Collection
Inside: My mismatched ornament collection contains sweet memories of people I hold dear, a sentimental journey through the seasons of my life.
Note: This is a repost from eight Christmases ago. Enjoy!
My Mismatched Ornament Collection
I admire a beautifully decorated tree with matching ribbons and shiny ball decorations. The kind from the cover of women’s magazines or standing sentinel in the center of the mall. These theme trees are lovely, but my experience in decorating is quite different. . .
I open a shoebox over thirty years old. Inside is my treasure. My ragtag collection of ornaments gathered over many years.
There are the ornaments from our first Christmas tree as a married couple. Mike sawed flat disks from the trunk, and I glued on leaves and berries from his mom’s holly bush. That was thirty years ago, all of the berries long gone, and some of the leaves as well.
Hearts made from raffia and yarn predate those. I remember making them a few years prior when I needed something to do with my hands, trying to get through a bout of depression.
On a lighter note I have salt dough ornaments I made from Christmas cookie cutters. An angel, Santa, a stocking–and dozens of white doves. Yes, dozens! They come from an even earlier time when I was trying to make crafts to sell. I thought if I put a price of 50 cents a piece on them I could make some money. . . What was I thinking? So they’ve been with me for years and years. And years. I can remember back to my meticulous days when I insisted all of them had to be hung on our tree, and poor Emily had to help me hang them. She and her father used to tease me about those white doves.
Family members have greatly contributed to my ragtag collection. Mom gave me a set of antiqued tin ornaments she made a long time ago that I absolutely love. Emily’s school projects have added several stockings and reindeer, a snowman, star, and gingerbread man that is now missing a pom-pom. And if a prize exists for the most ornaments and Christmas decor made and given by a relative, my aunt Kay wins hands down! If it weren’t for Kay, nearly a third of my Christmas trinkets and baubles would be gone. Among the many I’ve received from her are rabbits, Santas, and cows. (That’s what happens when you have a dairy farm.) The cows are a particular favorite of mine.
Friends have given me ornaments as well. Toward the top of my tree, far from kitty paws, hangs a delicate glass Uncle Sam Santa from a writer friend, Donna, who shared my feelings about country and patriotism.
A pig suspends from a lower branch, thanks in part to my Danish friend Andrea. Another one just like it is on the other side of the tree–one for me, one for Mike. She also sent three Danish hearts, a traditional ornament there. She had purchased these at a craft bazaar to send halfway around the world from Sejer Island in Denmark to me. Two Christmases ago, one of those hearts had inadvertently been left out of the shoebox that was packed in a larger storage container. That spring I found out she had cancer, so I put that little ornament in a picture frame next to my lamp table and prayed for her often. She died of pancreatic cancer a few months later, so these ornaments are especially dear to me now.
Beyond the salt dough I’ve made quite a few ornaments from paper twist–which used to be more in style in the late 80s. Santas, angels, and a mini nativity. Also baskets made from jute and tiny dried flowers. Simple Christmas card cutouts with lace, too. I remember back when Mike was working with Mom’s scroll saw, cutting out shapes and a leftover piece looked exactly like a goose–a happy accident! So I painted it and tied a bow around its neck.
It’s been a while since I’ve made ornaments, and working on the mini wreaths for the post a few days ago was just what I needed. Fun, relaxing, and simple. I think I might add a few more to my ragtag collection. The others are getting lonely.
While my tree will never grace the cover of a home decor magazine or be admired from a mall or downtown building, mine is rich in memories, shining bright from the love of those who care about me. Who says that isn’t beautiful?
The 12 Posts of Christmas, 2024
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: All. The. Things.
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2024
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: My Favorite Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: Of Kings and Road Trips
The 12 Post of Christmas, Day 5: Simple Stick Ornaments
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 6: A Classic O’Henry Christmas Tale
The 12 Days of Christmas, Day 7: Christmas Towns Revisited
Inside: Christmas towns revisited. . . Did you know there are Christmas named towns in the US? Here’s a fun little read we posted several years ago just in time for the holidays.
Christmas Towns Abound
It’s likely you’ve heard of North Pole, Alaska, (pictured above), but have you heard of North Pole, NY? Or would you believe there is not only a Santa, Idaho, but also Santa Claus, Indiana, as well as Santa Clause, Georgia, and yet another town with the same moniker in Arizona?
And not only that, but we’ve got towns named after Rudolph and Dasher. (That would be Rudolph, Wisconsin, and Dasher, Georgia, respectively.)
On a more spiritual note, you can find two namesakes for that ancient little town Bethlehem: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Bethlehem, North Carolina. In my own home state, I discovered today, we have a town by the name of Noel, Missouri!
And how about the actual name of the holiday? There are several contenders: Christmas Valley, Oregon, and Christmas Cove, Maine, as well as Christmas, Michigan, and Christmas, Florida.
For those who love the symbols of the season, we have Eggnog, Utah, and Mistletoe, Kentucky, and also Evergreen, Alabama, and Holly Springs, Mississippi.
But regardless of these names both fun and fanciful, perhaps the best Christmas town of all is the place where you call home. And I hope wherever that is, you have the most wonderful, blessed, peaceful Christmas ever!
For more information on these and other Christmas towns, go here.
The 12 Posts of Christmas, 2024:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: All. The. Things.
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2024
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: My Favorite Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: Of Kings and Road Trips
The 12 Post of Christmas, Day 5: Simple Stick Ornaments
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 6: A Classic O’Henry Christmas Tale
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 6: A Classic O’Henry Christmas Tale
Inside: If you’re a fan of American literature like I am, you’ll appreciate this classic O’Henry Christmas Tale, a repost from a few years ago.
*This post contains affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
The Story
The setting is a small and sparsely furnished apartment in New York City just after the turn of the twentieth century. The players, Jim Dillingham Young and his wife Della, their last name appropriate, as they are a young married couple. The story opens as Della is fretting over what to give her husband Jim for Christmas. With only $1.87, and that hard fought through scrimping and saving from the household budget, she doesn’t have the funds to buy a grand gift fitting her husband. Looking in the mirror, she comes up with the solution–selling her hair, which she does, to buy a chain for Jim’s prized possession–a family heirloom pocket watch. But the sacrifice is not without struggle, as she wonders if her husband will still find her pretty without her long, beautiful brown hair.
Jim enters the scene, coming home from work, and his expression is one of bewilderment. (SPOILER ALERT) He asks her what happened to her hair. Afraid he no longer finds her attractive, she tells him her tresses will grow back quickly, that she sold her hair for him.
Jim then reassures her that he loves her no matter what the state of her hair, and he tosses a package–a gift for her–on the table. She opens it to reveal tortoise-shell combs–the very combs she had so long pined for in a shop window. She loves them and reminds him her hair will grow back fast. She then presents him with his gift. He opens it to see a fancy watch chain, and she urges him to show his watch so that she can see how well it matches. He then confesses to her that he sold his watch to buy her the combs.
The Author
“The Gift of the Magi” is a sentimental Christmas story, written in the style of the day by William Sydney Porter, better known as O’Henry. A classic O’Henry tale with a twist, it is said he penned the story in Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place in New York City. It first appeared in The New York Sunday World under the title “Gifts of the Magi” on December 10, 1905. Later it was published in book form in the anthology The Four Million in April of the following year.
“The Gift of the Magi” has been adapted for movies and television. My first exposure to the story was the television movie “The Gift of Love,” which takes the basic story line and changes some of the details–wealthy heiress (Marie Osmond) falls in love with a Swiss immigrant (Timothy Bottoms) against the wishes of her relatives who have arranged for her to marry a dull man (James Woods).
First released in 1978, I swooned over Timothy Bottoms in the role of Rudy. It’s a good movie, and it’s available on prime.
Check out both O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” and The Gift of Love. You won’t be disappointed!
The 12 Posts of Christmas, 2024:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: All. The. Things.
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2024
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: My Favorite Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: Of Kings and Road Trips
The 12 Post of Christmas, Day 5: Simple Stick Ornaments
Resources and related posts:
The 12 Post of Christmas, Day 5: Simple Stick Ornaments
Inside: This is a repost from seven years ago when Mom made these simple stick ornaments. These are a great craft to make with the kids or good excuse to play with sticks yourself!
Simple Ornaments
Guest post by Ann Harke
After finishing our Prim Christmas Tree Forest, I was faced with all the sticks lying around on the table, counter, and chairs. As crazy as it sounds, I just couldn’t throw them out or, better yet, throw them into the woodstove. So I decided to try making something else with them, and my creative juices began to flow.
Tree and Star Ornaments
You will need:
- Sticks
- Card stock (or cardboard)
- Buttons
- Twine
- Hot glue gun with glue sticks
Is it strange to put a tree ornament on a Christmas tree? We think not! Picture by Ann Harke.
I took some of the really small twigs and clipped them in a triangle form. I used a piece of cardstock cut in a narrow strip to use as the tree base on which to hot glue the sticks. You want to leave a small space at the bottom for the trunk and work your way up to the top. For a hook take a small piece of twine string, loop it, and hot glue it to the tree on back or even let it hang in front. You be the creator of your own design.
For a slightly different look I used a stick in place of the cardstock. Follow the same directions in applying the sticks in a triangular shape.
Next I went back to the cardstock and again cut sticks in a triangle, longest at the bottom, shortest at the top, but this time I left space in between the sticks and glued buttons. (See picture above.) I liked that effect.
I did various trees with different sizes and made a loop from the twine string to glue on either the back or front. Again, you be the decider of your creation.
Thinking back to our Prim Christmas Tree Forest, I remembered the star and fashioned a five-pointed star by taking five sticks the same length and gluing them together, placing buttons on the edges. That turned out well, too.
After all of these ornaments I literally ran out of sticks, so I no longer felt guilty about throwing these free sticks away. As in hippie days, you could say I became one with my sticks.
I loved this craft and shortly after made a two and a half foot stick tree with ornaments I cut from galvanized tin. But that’s a post for another day. (Note from editor: Next year!)
Try these ornaments and let your creativity flow. You’ll be surprised at the ideas that come forth. And just have fun!
The 12 Post of Christmas, 2024:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: All. The. Things.
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2024