PETS PAST:
One of the first things I like to have on my tree is a remembrance of pets past. Bebe was a tiny Yorkshire terrier that my father bought my mother for her birthday when I was 16. She spurned my mother and moved into my room, and later moved out when I moved out, and stayed with me until I had just nudged past 32. She was a great woman: feisty, in control, discerning (obviously!) and she liked me best. I made that heart when I was 16 out of an aluminum tray. NOT high art, but the love is there all the same.
PETS PRESENT:
This one is for my current dog, Oliver. When he was a puppy-still (just over a year old) he came from an over-crowded hi kill shelter to the DELCO SPCA and then to a foster, and then us. I bought a pack of wooden ornaments for Sophie to paint as a craft, and this one she was supposed to paint Oliver, but he, spay terrier puppy mutt, got it and chewed it up. This is self-decorated by Oliver then, as he is still a snazzy puppy mutt almost 8 years later.
AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE:
This is is one of the first ornaments I eve bought for myself when I had my first tree in my apartment. It is from my beloved and dearly departed Pier 1, and it is made of some sort of reed or palm, and is a Santa head shaped like a half moon. I was deeply into all things moon in those days, so I am sure that is part of what attracted me to it. I though it was folks-arty, which I am, and a clever interpretation of Santa. And I have had it now… well… since the 1980s!
OH PHO YOU DIDN’T!
This is an ornament that someone gifted to me because of my love of Asian food in general, and I was going through a heavy pho period at the time. OMGosh I love pho. I love the Asian custom (at least in China and Vietnam) of having soup as breakfast. I love soup for breakfast!
I have to tell you a funny pho story. You may not know this, but pho is actually pronounced FUH. Someone once razzed e about it. “Oh! You’re one of those people who has to say Eeee-ron instead of I-ran, aren’t you? And so you have to say FUH instead of FOE like a normal person.” Hmmm… yes, for better or worse, I am the person who cares about the pronunciation, and if they say FUH in Vietnam, then so will I.
In any case, the funny part is when we lived in the San Fernando Valley there was a restaurant name Pho King.
Do you get it? You do if you pronounce it correctly. 😉
SOPHIE’S FAVORITE:
This is an ornament I bought for Sophie, for her future grown-up tree. It is on of her favorite (and one of my favorite too!) foods: cotton candy! What’s not to like?
RAPUNZEL:
Sophie was still teeny when I bought this, handmade on Etsy, to help with her Rapunzel obsession. Sophie wore a blond braid on her head every day for two years after seeing Disney’s movie Rapunzel. We all really liked that movie actually, except for the song, “Mother Knows Best,” which I love but can never get out of my head! In any case, Rapunzel is a one of the more girl-power Disney films. We looked it a lot, and Sophie’s preschool was so nice about letting her attend in her blond braid and tutus every day.
DA-NA-DA-NA-DA-NA-DA-NA- DA-NA-DA-NA-DA-NA-DA-NA… BATMAN!
When Dave and I got together he already had some ornaments of his own, and this was one of them! Batman, scaling the tree in the center of Gotham. We also have the Millennium Falcom, R2D2, Spiderman… and that tells you a lot about Dave right there. LOL. He also owns some creepy elf-like decorations from the 1960s that should have probably stayed in the 1960s. I’m just sayin’….
A GIFT!
I have a wonderfully talented friend who has made me many ornaments over the years. This year she sent me some of her handmade jewelry for my birthday, and she’d put them in boxes she made from old cards. This one was so adorable I stuck a hanger on it and added it to the tree!
NO NO NO NOTORIOUS!
This was also from the same friend. RGB was a hero to both of us, and we went to the 1/21/2017 Women’s March on Washington together. My friend and I met in 1974. Yeah. She’s that friend.
BY THE SEA:
When we were living in Delaware, we were only 9 miles from the beach. That was amazing. One year I bought a wreath at the Holly festival there that had this little guy on it. I love him. And I miss being by the sea. I hope to someday be able to look out of my house directly at a body of water. It’s one of my dreams.
WASHINGTON D.C.:
When we decided to leave Delaware, we went looking for a place we’d feel comfortable in terms of our values, and a place that had a good (better) school situation for Sophie, and the Los Angeles area had that and two family members too. However, looming large on the list was also D.C. I love D.C. It is lively, fun, into politics, which I am too, and feels like it may be more open to diversity than where we were at the time. One wonderful thing D.C. has is free stuff! Yes, you have to pay to park, but the museums, the National Mall, and the National Zoo, all free, and all fabulous! AND, we always used to rent a weekend at a hotel in December: holiday markets, Zoo Lights, and all the politicians are gone, so the hotel rooms are cheap! Cheap hotel, free admission! You just need to drive there and pack food to eat in order to have a truly inexpensive vacation! It’s almost 100% walkable (for those of you who motor on your legs at all). It’s a great time of year to go, and a fun city in general.
TINY FINGERS:
Last in this post (although there are so many more ornaments on the tree) is one of Sophie’s mittens from when we first met her in China. We only have one, and this mitten, I remember, was waaaay to large for her teeny-beany fingers. I love it.
Many of my friends have trees that are worthy of Neiman Marcus, gorgeous, shiny, color-coordinated displays that they change and upgrade every year. And they are lovely, and make me feel luxurious whenever I am able to visit them.
My tree, has always been the same: a live tree, usually fat as Santa, and short, with ornaments gifted or collected or created over the years that may have no connection to one-another… aside from me. My tree always gives me that Crotchet-family feeling of warmth, and enjoying our “not much.” I think I may have often had meager Christmases as an adult, to be frank, but they have always managed to have a tree, and something good to eat, and something good to drink.
I absolutely love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday.
What do you have on your tree?
