Ornaments

I found the ornaments.  They were packed away in the back of the closet under the stairs.  I knew they would be in there, that's where they have always been stored, for the last seventeen years in fact.  Thanksgiving has just kind of snuck up on us this year and that's the day we put up and decorate our tree. 

In December of 1985, Chris and I were dating and approaching our first Christmas.  He didn't have a lot of money, I didn't have any more than he did so we went for a walk through the woods behind his Grandmother's house to cut down a cedar tree to bring back inside and decorate.  We bought some lights and one pack of ornaments but the little tree still looked pretty empty so I went through some things at home until I found a few things to make some homemade ornaments for his/our tree.  Chris was so sweetly grateful and gave those little creations of mine far more praise than they deserved.

A year later in December of 1986, just days after our wedding we put up our Christmas tree and Chris brought out the ornaments he had saved from the year before...the ones I had made.  And every year those ornaments are lovingly placed on our tree, a reminder of that first Christmas, merely 19 and 22 years old and with lots more Christmas spirit than earthly money.

Amidst the smell of turkey and pumpkin pie, warmly tucked inside of our home amidst the cold drizzle (and possibly snow this year) of a Seattle Thanksgiving, those same ornaments will once again find their place on our tree.  They will be joined once again by little teddy bears, ten in all, marking the first five Christmases of both Emily and Eric.  They will be joined by lots of other ornaments representing the life of a family including a golden key from 1993, our first house.  This year we will also hang a lovely angel, carved in wood by a woman at my childhood church in North Carolina, with Chris' name and 1963-2010 written upon it.  I think we will hang that one last...completing this year's tree.

I found the ornaments...packed under the stairs...a box full of the history of this family.

Grace for your journey,
Leigh