Some of our Christmas ornaments. They were all over the dining room table after Christmas last year and I dusted each one and packed them away. So many precious memories are in these ornaments! I’m looking forward to enjoying these glittering little pieces of our past again.

I made the quilled snowflake in 1976. The styrofoam ball with blue sequin letters JULIE was made by a friend of my parents in 1966. I made each of my children a paper shoe from a pattern fashioned after a vintage baby shoe in 1986.
The ship was made following the directions in The Decorated Tree, my all-time favorite Christmas craft book, by Carol Sterbenz.
My dear Grandma made the sweet sleeping baby doll many years ago. She made one for each of her grandchildren.
My sister Donna made the tiny mandolin.
I made the embroidered circle and heart ornaments from leftover wedding gown material for our first Christmas.
My sister Suzanne made the little red sled with painstakingly-wrapped teeny gifts on it.
My mom made the ceramic dove.
My sister-in-law made the real popcorn and wire wreath in 1980 and every year we’re amazed that the popcorn survived another year!
My mother-in-law gave me the vintage baby doll in a black tulle clown costume.

Not shown, but will surely be on our tree: the foil covered styrofoam ball with a little bite taken out of it by one of our babies, the plaster of paris wreath ornament made by one of the boys that is so heavy we have to hang it near the trunk on a really sturdy branch, the beaded ornament made by my husband when we talked him into joining our family ornament-making evening and many more. Themed trees are pretty but we have a small house and only one big tree. I admire exquisite decorator trees for their artistry but enjoy the old history of ours too much to ever change.