YooHoo… I’m super excited to be back with everyone in the “7th” April A to Z Challenge… and my theme is “Time-Traveling” through my blog – “Everyone Has a Family Story to Tell“. If you have stumbled upon this post and wondering about the challenge… The Blogging A to Z April Challenge is one month of every-day blogging through the alphabet. 26 days, 26 letters, 26 posts! Daily blogging is Monday through Saturday… leaving Sunday to rest, read other blogs, and prepare for the following week! From the first day in 2016 when I happened upon this challenge… it still has me just as excited… and always eager to begin! Who doesn’t love a good time travel of events… so where would you travel to?
Grab a coffee… as you follow me down the rabbit hole… Hippity Hop!
Originally Posted: December 15, 2015
Xmas Tree Decorations and more…
I participated in the 2015 Edition of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories by Thomas MacEntee and the Geneabloggers. I’d like to personally thank Dawn Williams-Kogutkiewicz of Dawning Genealogy for sharing the idea on Genealogy Bloggers. If you haven’t blogged your Christma memories… it’d make a great April A to Z theme.
Do you have unique decorations that you use each Christmas? How did you acquire them, or were they passed down to you from family members? Describe your favorite decorations!
All the felt ornaments on my tree were handmade by me. They were my first ornaments I made after turning a page in Woman’s Day magazine… and discovering them. I sewed so many, that I began selling them at craft fairs. It’s now become a ritual with me in making a new ornament every year… I vary between felted or knitted, but the granddaughters are gifted with new ornaments each Christmas.
I have concentrated this week on going through all our Christmas decorations… saved from over forty three years of marriage. As I sat there looking through box after box, I thought, “what was I thinking?” Hubby was happy to have a few less storage tubs, but me… it’s hard to part with things. I know at some point, you need to let go of decorations that are no longer used… but as of now, I haven’t reached that point yet… even though I don’t seem to decorate so much.
In years past, I was obsessed with collecting Hallmark ornaments… mostly the ones you buy every year to continue a set, like trains, houses and son and daughter specific ornaments. News… if you think your children will want all the ones you bought for them through the years, well think again. Wonder what Hallmark stock is worth, that’s what I should have bought instead of ornaments!
Hallmark Houses
In years past, I loved displaying all my “littles” every year. Yes, they were mostly Hallmark too, but little. My daughter asked for them last year and I’m happy to see her display and begin a tradition for her children every Christmas. Her youngest, Grace, has taken possession in setting them up now for display every Christmas.
“The Littles”
The Christmas Dinnerware !
I bought a set of Christmas dinnerware one year… little did I think about having to storing them all year… to only use one day of the year! Every December I would dust them off to use on Christmas Day, but now I have passed that tradition to my daughter; she often uses them the entire month of December. My daughter in law always admired them… so I went on the hunt to acquire pieces to complete a second set to pass to her and my son.
Steve and I enjoyed looking for new Christmas decorations every year in our early years… often going to the local Chancey Brothers in the hunt. That’s how I ended up with so many totes of Christmas decorations; I did manage to downsize somewhat this year with them. In years past I gave most of the outside plastic decorations to my son… now it’s his job to store them!
One of my treasured pieces I’ve had since the early 70’s is this ceramic tree my father gave me. I must have mentioned, at some point, that I wanted a ceramic Christmas tree. One day, it just appeared in the mail. I was so touched at his thoughtfulness, and It means the world to me… and I’m not parting with it yet.
Whenever I put this tree up at Christmas, I feel Daddy is with me in spirit!
What’s your favorite Christmas memories, decorations, or funny remembrances… do you decorate outside… what’s your oldest decorations?
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Previous Years A to Z April Challenges…
2016: A to Z Southern Foods and Memories… they said write what you know… and being a girl born in the South… well this was what I knew.
2017: A to Z Conversations with Mama… it was a somewhat easy one for me to write as I’d journaled our conversations for years… I researched favorite topics to write.
2018: A to Z All About Nancy Drew… this one has been my favorite topic so far, and I don’t know if I’ll ever come up with another one to equal it
2019: A to Z Italian Famiglia Foods and Memories… I felt it was time to finally write the favorites of my husbands family foods.
2020: A to Z Family Stories… writing the stories of my husband’s family.
2021: A to Z of Mama in Photos... blogging on my mother through photos and memories.
To read more 2022: A to Z April Challenge… click HERE.
Like to read more ~ Click on 2015: Advent Calendar of Christmas
© 2022, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved
Everyone Has a Story 
I have some decorations including glass baubles I inherited from my grandparents and it is lovely to remember my grandparents when I put them up each year
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My grandparents never put up trees unless we were there. Another grandparent only decorated an outside tree.
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There’s not much left from my childhood decorations. I used to cut a branch off a pine tree when young and bought a live pine each year when my children were young. My daughter keeps up the tradition but I now have an artificial one from Aldi which has lasted me for many years.
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I have nothing from my childhood.
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I’ve saved several kid projects that are still part of the Christmas decorations. Some are on its last shredded legs, but they are always looked for.
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I still have a few things my kids made. Always enjoy hanging
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One of the best things about Christmas is opening those boxes of decorations and being plunged back in time…
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Yes. The lights on the tree at night is soothing and calming. I often think of leaving my ceramic tree up year round just to enjoy the lights!
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I really like that Xmas dinnerware. I remember my grandmother had dishes just for the Xmas dinner.
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It was by Nikko- I fell in love with the unusual shape.
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I too have a love of Xmas decorations and will need to rationalise sooner or later…probably later. We’ve bought them from all over so are associated either with people or places. We have craft our daughters or grandchildren made, some of mum’s handmade and bought, and some of my own crafted ones. No colour matching anywhere 🙂
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I always hate thinking about downsizing. Depressing
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We used to have one of those ceramic Christmas trees that my husband’s grandmother made back in the 1970s, but we got rid of it probably 10-15 years ago. Now, of course, they’re a hot commodity, and when I found out my daughter in law wanted one, I haven’t been able to stop kicking myself over getting rid of the one we had! Of course, we can’t keep EVERYTHING on the chance that it might be worth something some day.
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And like it is… what goes around comes back around. Hope you find another tree
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