I live in the woods. If you know me, you already knew that.
There is a wide variety of wildlife I can see out my office window every day. Birds, deer, turkeys, squirrels, the odd chipmunk. As a born and bred city girl I don’t know the differences between birds or anything else. I have trouble with dog breeds!
But I know we have a vast amount of different birds flying outside my window each day.
I have a friend who does know about birds. In fact, she gives me a bird ornament every year for my tree. Each of them are native to NH, which is cool, no?
Here’ the first one she gave me eons ago:
DOn’t ask me what it is. I think it’s a Robin but the odds are I’m wrong. I don’t really care what it is. I just love it!
I have several more on the tree but like I said, this is the first one and I always love a first-in-a-series, be it an ornament or a book.
I’ve made so many new friends since I became a published author. I can truly say I’ve been blessed that those friends are also readers of my work – a great two-fer in the relationship department. One of those friends, the lovely Jennifer Kerfien, sends me a hand-made ornament that she constructs every Christmas. They are so beautiful and they all sit in a place of honor on the tree. This one is my fav – made of pages of one of my books!
Honestly, every year she outdoes herself.
Jennifer and I share a love of reading, labradors, and having fun!
Eons ago my daughter won the New Hampshire State Spelling Bee and competed in the Scripps National Spelling bee in Washington, DC.
It’s fairly impossible to explain how proud her father and I were of her.
Her entire extended family took a trip to Washington DC for 4 days to watch her compete. Thrilling doesn’t begin to describe it. Back then I was a frequent patron of a paint-your-own-pottery store in my home town and to commemorate the event, I made this ornament:
Every year when I put it on the tree my daughter groans. Too bad, I always tell her. This was an event so profound in her parents’ lives that it has to be remembered every year.
She still groans, but at least she lets me put it up, hee hee.
Such a happy memory, just what an ornament should be.
I like pop culture, not gonna deny it. I’m a little out of the times this year because I’ve been busy with other stuff, but when my daughter was little, we had a ton of ornaments from tv shows, pop icons, etc.
Today I’ve got a trio of ornaments that I still put up on the tree because they are so stinkin’ cute and they represent girl empowerment to me.
The PowerPuff Girls was a TV show back in the day about 3 little girls who possessed extraordinary powers. But they were still little girls even though they flew around protecting the world from bad guys and that I think that was the greatest part of their charm. Even though they were superheroes they still had sister fights, little girl tantrums, and still needed to learn life lessons on each episode.
Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles were the cuties’s names and I bought these for my daughter when she was 7 years old.
Professions are easy to turn into Holiday ornaments. The other day I showed you one set of the nurse/doctor ones I’ve received over the years. Today is my retirement career.
You all know I retired from my job in 2015 when I got my first writing contract with The Wild Rose Press. The day I turned in my resignation was one of the happiest – and scariest – of my life. Happy because I was finally being given an opportunity to do what I loved, full-time. Scariest because…no income. The potential for income was there, but I knew it was going to take a few years ( read: several!) before I saw any substantial cash in the royalties department. I still can’t support myself to this day on what I make as a full-time writer each year, but it’s way better than when I first started out in 2015.
That year, for Christmas, I bought myself this ornament as a testament to my new career:
It’s perfect in so many ways, but mostly because it’s a. a typewriter, and b. pink.
LOL
I wish I had my own pink typewriter in real life. I have a writing friend who actually does. I’ll need to save up to get myself one, one of these days.
So in a previous blog post I told you all that I have over 120 pairs of shoes.
Don’t judge. I’ve worn each and every one of them at least once. Many have had to be re-soled I’ve worn them so much. And despite what hubster thinks, I am not channeling Imelda Marcos. I truly love shoes and wear different pairs all the time.
I remind you of this because of today’s ornament. Several years ago I went shopping with a friend to buy shoes for a wedding. I would up with three pair that day because I couldn’t make up my mind which would go best with the dress. I fully intended to return the two that didn’t.
But…
I found two other outfits in my closet they went perfectly with them, so…
Again – no judging.
For Christmas that year she gifted me this ornament:
Do you believe in angels? I do and have since I was a child.
There’s something magical about believing in a being who is looking out for you from a distance. Everyone who knows me knows I love these celestial beings. And, because they also know I’m obsessed with tree ornaments, most of my friends have gifted me angel ornaments over the years. Here are just a few on the tree this year.
This one my girlfriend gave me several years ago. It’s a breast cancer fundraiser ornament.
I got this little lass in Ireland.
This one is made of glass and I wrap it in six sheets of paper each year when I store it because I don’t want anything to happen to it.
And of course, the Anna Lee angel that tops my tree that I’ve had for almost 30 years:
And that isn’t even all of them, kids.
Angels: they’re a good thing to have on your holiday tree.
Hubster and I met at a hospital where I was working as a nurse and he was interning. Yes, we are that quintessential Doctor/Nurse relationship older romance book lovers adored, heehee.
When my husband discovered my love ( not obsession!) of holiday ornaments, it stood to reason at some point we would get a few that espoused our professions.
We weren’t wrong.
One of my best work friends who had watched us all through our courting years and through our long-distance engagement, gave us these the year we got married.
My sister-in-law Mary gave Larry this one eons ago. I love it sosos much!!!
DO you have any profession-themed ornaments? I’ve given a glass blow-dryer to my hairstylist and one year to my manicurist I gave a tiny replica bottle of polish. Cute, you know??
Yesterday was about my human baby, today is all about my fur babies – present and past.
I was married about seven months when my husband came home and said he thought we should get a dog.
I agreed, so we searched the local papers and found a dog owner whose female black lab had recently given birth to twelve pups. She had one left – the runt of the litter – and she came home with us that day.
Ella may have been the last pup born but she was by no stretch of the imagination a “runt.” At one point she topped the scales at 120 pounds. This may have been my fault because once I was pregnant, she and I had MacDonald’s three times a week. I got a big mac and fries, she got a hamburger happy meal.
This ornament is from 1988, her very first Christmas with us. She lived until 12 years of age and I miss her still every day.
At one point when my daughter was six she decided she wanted a cat, so we brought a little stray from the Humane Society home with us and named her Felina Catina after a cat-character in a children’s book I wrote. My daughter made this of Felina’s first Christmas as part of our family.
I actually had a picture ornament for her, but it broke several years ago.
During Covid, Hubster and I decided – like about a billion other people – to adopt a new dog into our family. Let me tell you from experience that it’s very different having a puppy when you are in your 20s than when you are in your 60s. 12 pound Maple came to us three days shy of her 8 week birthday and we fell in love immediately. I mean, look at that face! 18 months old now she is still highly loved – but tipping the scales at close to 100 pounds, anxious and with a severe case of FOMO which dictates she be with us EVERY WAKING SECOND ( hahaha), this dog is no easy little pup any longer.
But we still love her to the moon and back!
Preserve the images of your fur babies on ornaments, kids. You’ll keep them with you forever.
It’s no secret if you know me you know I simply adore my daughter. She represents everything good I ever tried to do in my life and makes each day I wake up on this earth a joyous one for me.
Today, I actually have 2 favorite ornaments to share and they both concern that darling girl.
The first comes from 1994 and my daughter made it her first year in school for me as a mother’s Christmas present. Her teacher had all the children make one for their moms. Love that sososo much!
Because she is a major “star” in my life story, she is also a featured star – literally!- on my tree each year.
The second ornament is from last year. After delaying their wedding for a year due to Covid, and then realizing they might have to do so again for another year, they decided to just simply take the plunge. It was a glorious day in September when they pledged themselves together for life, and were surrounded by family – all masked – in her hubby’s home church.
Every time I look at this ornament I smile, remembering that wonderful day.
You can’t beat family for making great ornament themes, peeps!
Peggy Jaeger, Author 