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!
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.
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.
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.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 