For me, Christmas inspires many memories. It reminds me of my childhood, it reminds me of the changes through the years, and it reminds me of my mom, who was a big Christmas fan. I was the one who was given all the old family decorations because of the simple fact that I’m the only one who really cares about Christmas anymore. I’ve been lugging several boxes worth of Christmas memories from apartment to apartment since I moved back from the UK.
My favorite objects of memory are the tree ornaments. I can remember which ones were gifts, which ones I bought myself over the years and where, which ones are relics of childhood. I’m going to share a few with you right now.
This is probably the oldest ornament I have. It was my mom’s when she was a little girl and was likely obtained sometime in the earlier 1950’s.
These two were my favorite ornaments in childhood. The Rudolph was made by my mom from felt and sequins and other stuff, I think from a kit. The swing hangs from a long thread and was always the most carefully placed ornament on the tree because it needed an especially big gap.
This was one of the first gifts I bought for my mom with my own money and my own choice. I was so excited and proud to be giving her something I thought was so beautiful.
Here are three ornaments that we got this year. You can see my affinity for cats (in spite of an unfortunate allergy) and dogs. And the cat mask with the music notes is a particularly fabulous combination.
Do any of you have holiday decorations that help you hold onto memories you care about?
The Practical Free Spirit 
Dearest Amy,
What a nice article, touches the heart strings and describes the feelings I get around this time of year. My mum too was the one who loved Christmas (not that the rest of us don’t love Christmas, its just not the same). Since we moved back to Australia from the UK, every year our christmas tree has gone up with decorations old and new. We are fortunate to have decorations which belonged to my mum’s mum, and also fortunate to have had a very creative mother who made christmas decorations as well. This year during this season, busy-ness has kind of taken over until one of those moments which just makes you stop and think of how privileged we are to have those little reminders. We had a small dinner party on Monday night, and all of a sudden time froze for me when someone said that a large christmas patchwork ball was their favorite ornament from our tree. It took me by surprise, and a few seconds to catch my breath (maybe even emotion) when somebody stated that that decoration was their favourite of the whole tree. What a wow moment. I very proudly said ‘My mum made that’. I realised the important of these ‘things’ when everyones heads turned and attention was captured as i explained my favourite decorations and the people they had come from.
At the end of the day they are just material things, and these things are ultimately not that important. It is people that are important. But ‘things’ become important to people like you and me because they can describe a person who is no longer with us, take us straight back to a memory in an instant, and reflect the creative character of our mum’s in a moment. Maybe its the moments these things remind us of is what we truly cherish and we hang on to.
Deb & I have chatted about these things and the meanings of christmas, and next year we will have started our own family and will be continuing the story of christmas and will be creating our own ‘moments’. We are so happy that we have the choice and freedom to make our own history and make christmas special, whilst remembering the past and making the most of family still with us.
Have a safe and happy holiday season and wishing you many blessings for the new year.
Thank you so much, Matt. I love the way you express this. Yes, it’s the people and the memories that are important. I believe this absolutely. And when we’ve lost someone, the memories become all the more precious.
May you and Deb create many new wonderful memories and traditions with your new family! I’m so excited for both of you.