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!
Yesterday’s ornament was all about good friends. Today’s is about family.
In the past four years my mother-in-law and my father-in-law have both died. Not, thankfully from this ridiculous virus, but from causes of old age, a life of good living, and what the professionals call natural causes.
I miss them. It’s as simple as that. I know my husband’s family mourn the loss of both their parents terribly and I feel for them. But I miss them, too. They were both such influential people in my life. While my father-in-law and I had – at times – a tortured relationship, he was only a handful of people who I have truly admired in my life. He influenced me in so many ways I would need a book to list them all.
My mother-in-law was – without a doubt – the nicest person I have ever had the pleasure to meet, know, and love. She perpetually smiled, was always welcoming to everyone, and never had an unkind word to say. How many people in our lives can we truly say were genuinely kind like that?
So, with their father’s passing this year, my sister-in-law Kathleene gifted her siblings with a lovely remembrance that simply speaks to how wonderful their parents were.
What a wonderful ornament, no? I adore it and it sits in a place of honor on our tree and will for the rest of our lives.
Hug your parents, kids. YOu never know how long you’ll be blessed to have them with you.
Family and friends are two of the most important factors that keep me sane. Admittedly, I don’t have very many close friends and all my family comes to me from my husband, but the people I do hold close I cherish, dearly.
A few years ago one of my good girlfriends gave each of us a special ornament that sits in the very front, top of my tree every year.
You may not know all of us individually, but this ornament is a pretty good depiction of what we look like ( only my hair was longer!)
If the past 20 months have taught us anything it should be that we must cherish those people nearest and dearest to us. You have no idea what tomorrow may bring – loss of life from a ridiculous virus being the most unpredictable. My heart simply aches for all those who have died from this pandemic and those who never go to hold them and say goodbye or tell them how much they meant before they did.
Tell the people who mean the most to you that you love them – EVERY SINGLE DAY and then show it in as many ways as you can.
And if you can, buy them an ornament like this one, hee hee
Sticking with favorite book themes (See yesterday’s post) today’s ornament was one I bought for my daughter when she was three years old and based on one of her favorite books.
If you’ve been around for a while you know the iconic opening to this book, “In an old house in Paris covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”
MADELINE has been a worldwide favorite of little girls everywhere for decades. At one point we had all nine books of the series in our house. This ornament is loved by every woman and girl who sees my tree. I can assure you, almost 100% of them quote that first line when they see the perfect blue coat and bright yellow hat. The fact Madeline was a redhead like my daughter is sweet, too!
Books with specialty ornaments are an abso favorite of mine. I have twenty book-themed ornaments I’ve been collecting since 1988 and include Dr. Suess, and classics such as Goodnight, Moon.
I know… Hoarder tendencies run in my DNA, hee hee.
Books are, without a doubt, a big factor in my life. Before I ever wrote them, I read them.
A lot of them.
I started reading on my own younger than most kids. My mother tells the story that by the time I went to kindergarten at the age of 5 I was already reading on a second-grade level and the teachers were impressed. My daughter was the same way.
One of the first books I ever remember reading and LOVING is today’s ornament.
This is a replica of Watty Piper’s famous and wonderful book THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. I think it was originally published about 90 years ago but its simple self motivating message still resounds to this day.
I remember being a kid and reading it and then an adult and reading it to my daughter and I felt the same sense of empowerment both times – this book is one every single child should read. It teaches an extremely valuable lesson on being true to yourself and, in my opinion, reaching for the unattainable, reaching for the stars.
I bought this ornament for myself several years ago and it always claims a visible space on my tree.
I tell you this because of today’s favorite ornament, given to me by Hubby in 1999
If you are a toy connoisseur you recognize this as Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots, a very popular toy in the 1960s. I wanted this toy. Bad! I put it on my list to Santa 3 years running from 1965-68. When the third Christmas morning without finding it under the tree occurred, my mother said, with a cigarette in one hand a cup of black coffee in the other and her hair in pink rollers, “That toy is for boys. Santa doesn’t bring boy toys to girls or vice versa.”
That was a hard lesson for an 8-year-old to learn.
Fast forward 33 years. I am sitting around the dinner table at my inlaw’s house three days before Christmas when my father-in-law asks everyone around the table to tell about their favorite or least favorite present they received as a child. I told the above story and how devastated I was never to get Rock’em sock’em robots.
Christmas morning comes and we are all opening presents when I find a big box with my name on it under the tree. There’s a note on it that says, “To Peg, from Santa. Sorry this is so late.” I open the box and yup, there it is, the toy of my dreams, Rock’Em Sock’Em robots.
My very own Santa, aka Hubby, sent my brother-in-law to ToysRUs after he heard that story to get me the toy. Best Christmas evah!
Peggy Jaeger, Author 