ornamental treasures

Inspired by Jana‘s recent post about her beloved ornaments, I’ve decided to share a few of mine with you. We are hurtling toward festivity around here, and I’m trying to make it through the last bits of work before enjoying TEN DAYS off. (Woo hoo!)

Last week, we had people over three times in four days; then we drove to Dallas to spend the weekend with Jeremiah’s family and their menagerie of cats and dogs. (Well, one dog.) And we’re off to my parents’ house soon, too. And I still haven’t caught up on sleep from the weekend. And the heater in my car went out – which will mean a nice Christmas present for the guys at our favorite auto shop, but isn’t so nice for us. So I’m trying to muster up all the festivity I can – and thought perhaps sharing my favorite ornaments with you would help.

This silver teapot came from It’s About Time, a favorite haunt of mine for sweet housewares and fun, funky antiques. I bought Bethany a similar one, and I have several other ornaments on my tree from this shop, both new and vintage. I love this photo because you can see me reflected in the teapot – and also because it represents a beloved ritual of mine, and time spent with friends. (The girls and I love to go there on our occasional Saturday excursions.) And the wooden red-and-white heart in the background came from IKEA, on a “field trip” with some of my beloved coffee ladies in September ’08.

My dear friend Jon bought me this little pottery angel when we went to see The Nutcracker together in Midland, several years ago. I like her curly hair and her open mouth and her crooked wire halo, and I like remembering that evening with one of my favorite people. (Jon and I have been friends since fifth grade, and he’s still one of the most important people in my life.)

MOAS stands for Model Organization of American States, a student diplomatic organization that I participated in my senior year of high school. There’s a national conference in D.C. each year, with teams from across the country representing North, Central and South American nations. We represented the U.S. at that year’s conference, in November 2001 – just two months after 9/11 – and I made these little ornaments as Christmas presents for all my teammates. (In the background there, you can see a few red glass balls – plain, nothing fancy – but some of them are from my parents’ very first Christmas tree, in 1978.)

We visited the Smithsonian on that MOAS trip in ’01, and I saw Dorothy’s real ruby slippers, and picked up this little ornament to bring home with me. I love how it sparkles, and I love remembering that week. We stayed at the State Plaza Hotel in suites with kitchenettes, and grocery shopped at the Safeway in the basement of the Watergate building, and I baked six batches of peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies to fuel our late-night proposal-revision sessions. And we dressed up in business suits and gave presentations, and danced the night away at the convention’s Gala, and toured the Pentagon in the company of an Air Force brigadier general who knew my friend Luke’s grandmother. We walked through Georgetown singing Christmas carols, and shared hundreds of inside jokes, and felt like real grown-ups navigating the big city. The world opened up for us that week, and I’ll never forget it. And this ruby slipper brings a little of that back every year.

I bought this silvered oak leaf ornament (sorry, Blondie, it’s oak, not maple) on that same MOAS trip, during our tour of the National Cathedral. I love the way it catches the light, and it brings that week back, too.

This wee little tree has my smiling face on it – I made it in third grade. It used to hang on the little tree in my room, but it’s migrated, with some other childhood ornaments, to my grown-up house. (The blue ball above it is one of those vintage Christmas balls, from my parents’ first tree. I like the fact that it’s traveled from one happy home to another.)

And finally – what is Christmas without the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll? Jeremiah traveled to a conference in Memphis last year, and brought back this fabulous Elvis ornament. We both love the King and his Blue Christmas album – so this was a perfect addition to our tree.

Merry, merry Christmas to all my blogosphere friends. May it be full of the ones you love, cozy times around the tree or the fire, and true peace on earth, and goodwill toward men.

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