Reflections of a Christmas Tree

Reflections of a Christmas Tree

The title of this blog post is both literal and figurative. The morning after we finished decorating the tree, I was standing in our kitchen, and I noticed the light reflecting off the silver garland on the tree as it cast interesting abstract patterns on the wall. The light patterns from the garland created interesting shapes that appealed to my artistic sensibilities which in turn got me reflecting on our Christmas tree and the role it plays in our household.

Looking at the different ornaments and how we have collected them over the years, I came to realize that in a way, our Christmas tree is a visual archive of our family history. Not perhaps in the sense of say genealogy, although there could be a bit of that too as there is a chronology to the different ornaments. On our Christmas tree you will find my very first ornament that was given to me by a family friend in 1966. It looks like an ornament from the 60’s that was clearly hand made. It is truly ugly but also one of my favorite ornaments (not so with Andy) which I look forward to hanging in a prime location on the tree every year (to Andy’s chagrin!) 

Stepping away from the ornaments a minute but still working through time, are the bubble lights. I spent a good portion of my childhood living in Michigan which has a town called Frankenmuth that had a store called Bronner’s that markets itself as the ‘World’s Largest Christmas store’. It is still there today. One of the Christmas decorations my family had when I was growing up where these amazing bubble lights that when they got warm as lights do, they would bubble! My mom still has them and now I too have sets of these lights! They are worth mentioning because they are a part of the Christmas tree history on my side of the family.  Another piece of Christmas history are the colored class bulbs that I mentioned in my last post, I’m not 100% sure but I believe what gives them their luminosity is the fact that they are glass (some of the more modern versions are plastic) and that they are painted inside with a silver mirror like substance (meaning that which is used to create mirrors) or they could also painted with mercury (it might be interesting to research this to confirm my theory but that won’t happen for this post at this time). My parents also had these types of bulbs on their tree, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their also came from Bronner’s as the store and town are near Saginaw, MI which is one of the places we lived in Michigan.

Beeswax Ornament from Aunt Sherri (Carey)

Another special Christmas ornament of mine is a Beeswax angel that was given to me one Christmas as a child by my Aunt Sherri (Carey) who has since passed. She was married to my uncle on my dad’s side of the family. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember, and it is another one I look forward to hanging. Sadly, I’ve had to repair it from time to time over the years but as it is made of actual bees wax it makes for an easy repair.

There was a time in my late teen and early twenties that I was very much into antiques, so I have several vintage ornaments that my mother bought me at an antique store when we were out looking for antique furniture. That was something we always enjoyed doing together. 

Then there are the ornaments that Andy and I purchased together when we were first married and on our honeymoon in London, England. There are four in total that we bought at Harrod’s. Andy always gets the honors of hanging those although they remind us both of that wonderful trip! Fast forward to a couple of years ago, our friend Laurie while in London for a business trip picked up sets of Christmas ornaments (per Andy’s request) for the girls from Harrod’s! So now they too have their own Christmas ornaments all the way from London England!

There are of course the homemade ornaments from the girls that show their youthful creativity from Christmas to Christmas. With their unique charm, each one brings a smile to my face every time I hang them. Another piece of family history that hangs on our tree are ornaments that pay homage to our beloved four-legged fur babies both past and present, yes we have ornaments of our Dogs! This tradition started with Hannah our chocolate Labrador and continues with Molly and Daisy whose ornament we got last year as it was her very first Christmas with us! 

So, in reflection, our Christmas tree not only celebrates the spirit of the holidays, but it displays for all to see the love and memories of my family. It is a celebration of our life both past and present and our joyful Christmas spirit.