Christmas Ornaments - Memories
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Struggling with loads of
laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal
our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and
find Joy in the Journey.
The Ornaments of
Christmas - Memories
(Part 1 in a 4
Part Christmas Series)
By Trish Berg
Note:
To celebrate Christmas, I am writing a 4 part series on the Ornaments of
Christmas, what decorates our lives over the holiday season. Please join me
each week for a new ornament.
Our family Christmas tree is covered in
ornaments. Each ornament seems to have a story behind it, and each year when we
decorate our tree, we spend time talking about the ornaments and the memories
we share.
My favorite ornaments are the ones that
hold memories, both happy and sad. Our memories make up who we are. We have the
traditional Baby’s First Christmas ornaments for each of our four children,
from glass baby booties, to a rocking horse and even a teddy bear. We have
handmade ornaments from Aunt Karen that we cherish. She made us hand died baby
socks with each of the children’s names stitched on and glass bulbs decorated
with M&M logos in memory of Pa Pa Hart who always gave his great
grandchildren M&M’s from his pocket.
We have an ornament form every family
vacation we have taken, from a train from our Polar Express train ride to a
bulb from the Great Wolf Lodge. We even have a lobster ornament and a sand
dollar from our vacation to Maine. There are softball ornaments to remember our
softball years, ice skates to remember our skating days on the creek and one
from the first year Mike and I were married and lived near the square in
medina. We also have a gingerbread cookie cutter from Ma Ma Hart that reminds
us of her love and all the years we made gingerbread cookies with her to hand
out to the world.
Oh yes, we also have bunches of handmade
ornaments from the kids younger years, handprints, Christmas trees and even
snowmen. We have feathery angels and jolly Santa’s. The angel that tops our
tree was a Christmas gift from 1992, and though her skirt is a bit tattered,
she still graces our tree with memories.
One ornament that is very special to us
is our angel baby. She always sits in the front near the top of the tree and
reminds us of the baby we lost so many years ago when I had a miscarriage. It
is a sad memory, but still one we cherish nonetheless. And it is the best
reminder of the real gift of Christmas, the reason we celebrate this special
day because we know we will see her again.
Our family Christmas tree is covered in
ornaments. Each ornament seems to have a memory behind it, and each year when
we decorate our tree, we spend time talking about the ornaments and what they
mean to us.
Our ornaments also remind us to keep
making memories, to live life in the moment and enjoy the blessing of today. Life
keeps moving forward, keeps changing. Our kiddos aren’t so little any longer
and it feels like time is slipping away. Our memories may help define who we
are, but they shouldn’t hold us back from who we should become.
Christmas memories do ornament our lives
and can glue our family together and help us focus on the love we share. But we
also need to remember that Christmas is not about us; it’s about the Gift from
God that came wrapped in clothes, lying in a manger. Jesus came to show us the
way, show us how to live. If we remember that, than our lives are truly
ornamented with love.
Posted by Trish Berg 7:54 AM
