Whew! It's 5:25 am and I just got the last item put up on the Christmas tree! At our house, there are just the two of us, and our dogs and our kitty. We're all getting older, and I came THIS close to not putting up a tree this year, but since I was awake at 1 am, I decided to go for it. Now I'm glad I did, because as I took each ornament out, I remembered where it came from, and where I was in my life when it became part of my collection. I got the oldest ones the first year I was married. 19 years old! That seems so young to me now! The department store in the little shopping mall in my town set up a Christmas decoration store in a vacant storefront that year, and after Christmas was over, they marked down all the leftover ornaments 75% That's where the mercury glass acorns and pine cones came from. It's amazing so many of them have survived! Over the years, they have been joined by a whole jumble of others: a collection of cloisone' hearts, hand-blown glass balls, and three ruby colored glass ornaments from Venice, by way of my trip to Las Vegas. A tragic, messed-up mistake of an adventure, but you know, I still love those ornaments I brought back in my duffle bag. So after over four hours of hanging lights and tinsel and ornaments, I thought I was finally done, when I realized I had forgot to add the bird's nest. There was never a bird's nest in the family Christmas tree when I was a child. I got the idea that every Christmas tree should have a nest from an episode of "The Waltons". When it originally aired! One of the Walton girls insisted on putting a bird's nest in the tree because it was "good luck", so when, on my one and only time golfing, I came upon this small, perfectly made bird's nest on the ground, I knew it was meant to go on my Christmas tree. And it has, every year. The tiny eggs in it came from Peg, my one legged canary, who passed away many years ago. So, I was wondering. Am I all alone in this, or do most people have a Christmas ornament that is filled with special meaning?

I know we have special ornaments in my family. When we first moved to the US way back in 1998 my dad bought us a Christmas tree and ornaments and a star. Now those ornaments have perished over the past 15 years but the star always finds its way on top of one of our Christmas trees. And there was this wreath type ornament my sister made in second tree- it also pops up somewhere on a tree. And we have this white ornament made of intricate white filigree (or fake filigree- I'm not sure). It's bent out of shape but we somehow find it somewhere and at least one person in the family hangs it up on a tree. I'm sure we have other ornaments but I can't remember them right now (we're decorating our tree(s) this weekend).

(We have three trees because about 5 years ago our big tree stand broke and we had to go buy a new "fake" tree. The ornaments were too much for it and we had to use my really tiny dorm room tree for the extras. We bought a new bigger tree for the next year but we still have three trees every year since then!)

I do indeed! Every year we have the same ornaments (haven't had any new ones in about six years), but I always smile because all of them are incredibly special.
There is a set of three miniature Asian Wise Men from the years my family lived in Thailand and a pine cone completely smothered in gold glitter paint by my elder brother when he was five.
And each year, as opposed to a star, we put a small, battered fairy on top of the tree. She was originally clothed in white lace but she's so old now that she's yellowed and looks quite tatty, but we love her to pieces because she was used when my parents had their first Christmas as a couple together; some 29 years ago!
Of course, there have been some casualties- last year I broke a red bauble by stepping on it… So it's twin is now all on its own!
Actually, this year is very special for me because it is the first time I am going to have a real tree rather than a fake one

For me, the ornaments themselves are not as special as the tradition of decorating the tree together with my sisters. We always had a real Christmas tree, and we'd put it up on the 23rd and then decorate it on the morning of Christmas Eve. Decorating the tree signals the start of Christmas.

Another tradition regarding the tree was finding and getting one - I don't think we've ever bought a Christmas tree in our life. We would get the tree ourselves, as my grandparents own forest. I'd always go with Dad to get the tree. Even these last years when I haven't lived at home anymore I've still gone. Last year, it was just me and him and the dog - it was a cold day and mom refused to go trudge in the snow.

This year, is different. This year I'm in England, and it is the first time I'm not going home to spend the Christmas with my family. I won't probably bother getting a tree, or put up any decorations for that matter. I'll be working through the Holidays anyway, and it's hard to get into a Christmas spirit when for me it's a holiday spent with the loved ones, and all my loved ones are across the sea from me. I just wrote the Christmas cards today and hope they'll be enough to send my love. I also got a package from my parents today, and I have to admit that it got me a little teary-eyed.