Christmas Ornaments

One of my favorite holiday moments--and the one that truly kicks off the season--is adorning the Christmas tree with all the ornaments we have collected over the years. I love it for two reasons: first, because you, Dominic, enjoy helping me load up the tree--something we have done together in the last five or six years, and second, because each ornament brings me back to a happy memory. There are those that you made in school (Jay's glittery Popsicle stick icicles, Dom's candy cane reindeer [that, sadly, we discovered melted this year!]). There are those that sport a specific year (the "To Santa, Love Aly and Jay '94" mittens and the penguin ornament Lisa Babb gave us in 2003, which marked the first Christmas we shared after we moved back to Maine), or mark a specific place (the Spangdahlem AFB Germany 2002 mittens). Some mark your very first Christmas (Aly's wooden "Alyssa," Jay's baby hanging from a snowflake, and Dom's toy chest and mouse lying in an acorn). I think there is at least one snowflake made of beads and pipe cleaners you made with a babysitter oh-so-many years ago. And how about all the Kathe Wohlfhart ornaments I bought when we went to Rothenburg in Germany? Those are pretty unique, huh? There are even a few ornaments Nana Spaltro gave us over the years--she loved Christmas ornaments, too. She did have six children, after all! :)

Oh yes... and let's not forget the one ornament that Aly hung from our tree a couple of years ago...a polka dotted bra! Heh heh heh!

Love,
Mama