Like the true Geriatric Crowd that we are, we hit the mall Saturday morning before 10:00 am, in search of our annual Christmas ornaments. Three stores and less than one hour later we were back out the door! Now that's how to shop!
But really, that isn't the point of this post, no, not at all.
Anyway, each year we select ornaments for our "Memory Tree" that represent something of significance for our family that year. The kids each get an ornament as well, and when they leave home, they can take the 18 (or 25...) ornaments with them to put on their own trees. That is, if they aren't all broken before then.
Here is the Pa and Sister Susie, with four of the ornaments (looking from left to right):
A red cloisonné ball to represent our trip to China.
A pink star with Sister's picture, to remember the referral of our baby girl.
A white cloisonné dog to represent Sister's year of birth (2006), The Year of The Dog.
A yellow "Baby's 1st Christmas" for Sister's first Christmas with us.
But really, that isn't the point of this post, no, not at all.
Anyway, each year we select ornaments for our "Memory Tree" that represent something of significance for our family that year. The kids each get an ornament as well, and when they leave home, they can take the 18 (or 25...) ornaments with them to put on their own trees. That is, if they aren't all broken before then.
Here is the Pa and Sister Susie, with four of the ornaments (looking from left to right):
A red cloisonné ball to represent our trip to China.
A pink star with Sister's picture, to remember the referral of our baby girl.
A white cloisonné dog to represent Sister's year of birth (2006), The Year of The Dog.
A yellow "Baby's 1st Christmas" for Sister's first Christmas with us.
And me, with an ornament to remind us of our move Northwest:
Campers with a soccer boy ornament, to remember his first season of the sport where you form a big blob of kids and chase a ball across a field:
And the Zig, holding a small airplane, to help us remember his first trip in an airplane, flying from the Midwest to his new home Out West:
Each year it is a treat to walk down Amnesia Lane and recall what this family of ten years has experienced together. As each ornament is brought out of the box, it is wrapped up in stories that the Pa and I just have to tell. This year, Campers is old enough to start grasping some of the history...
...that before he even existed, his parents lived in an exotic place called "Wisconsin,"
...that before his Ma was a "Ma," she used to have these things called "hobbies," which included playing the cello and taking vacations,
...that before there was the Zig, there was another baby who could have been his sibling,
...that sometimes our memories bring tears and sometimes bring laughter, but it's in the telling of the stories that brings us closer together.
That tree, it holds our memories.
...that before he even existed, his parents lived in an exotic place called "Wisconsin,"
...that before his Ma was a "Ma," she used to have these things called "hobbies," which included playing the cello and taking vacations,
...that before there was the Zig, there was another baby who could have been his sibling,
...that sometimes our memories bring tears and sometimes bring laughter, but it's in the telling of the stories that brings us closer together.
That tree, it holds our memories.
