Christmas Ornament Explanation

I love putting up the Christmas Trees. I have so many wonderful memories of so many things. I decided this year as I un-decorated to explain some of them, since someday you might want to know why it was special and on the tree. Of course, the ones from you kids that you made at school, at church, for the state fair,  and at scouts are self explanatory. Here are a few...

 

This angel is the first one I put on the tree (I am the sole decorator, so I choose what is first). It was a decoration on a package from my Dad's mom, Etta Lucille Taylor Kew, on my first Christmas. She died of throat cancer when I was a year old. It has always hung on my Christmas tree.

This one is the second one I hang...from my first Christmas.

This is a Leggs Pantyhose Egg that I painted and included in an Easter basket that I left for Dad at his house way before we even had dated. It was full of candy and had painted pics of his truck and even had a candy filled egg for his cat, Frisky, in the basket.

This ornament was made by Aunt Bonnie Jordan and is made of pieces of your great grandmother Dorothy McFarland's dance costumes. She loved to dance and ran a dancing camp.

This ornament was made by Aunt Bonnie and is made of pieces of Grandpa Ethan McFarland's neckties.

This was a gift from Great Grandmother Dorothy McFarland. She painted different nativity characters and gave them to each person. She purchased, painted and had them fired.

These were made my Aunt Bonnie Jordan. We noticed the seal was failing one year, so we dipped ours in a clear urethane. It was a blessing for us, but Bonnie's fell apart, so each person in the family gave one of their ornaments back to her so she would have a complete set.

These little clothespin snowmen are all placed together. Some have names on them...some do not. I figure it was a treasure from my kids so they are near the top of the tree.

These are the pins Dad wore everywhere when you guys were born. Six times!

These are from Dad's original tree

This was one of the first ornaments Dorrie made for the family.

These are my last two "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments that grandma Dorrie got each of you. They used to all hang right near each other.

This was a gift from my piano teacher, Theone Hamblin, when I was a teenager taking piano lessons.

These are all the wedding ornaments Grandma has created. They, too, hang near each other.

These are the temples where the boys served their LDS missions: St. Louis, Missouri, Seattle, Washington, and Seoul, Korea.

Dorrie made these one year, before we were married.

These were embroidered by Nano...for each Christmas. This year was Nativity, the reindeer and the cat were succeeding years. She always loved to cross stitch, till it become more difficult for her to see.

This is another one painted by Great Grandma Dorothy McFarland. She painted round ones that have a green background for you kids.

I worked with a lady name Carol Kirschner. She was Jewish and made these beaded stars of David for a tree. I was still naive and didn't realize they stood for Judaism, but she showed me how to make them, and I made quite a few. She made this one for me...four points on the star. It was such a great memory of a kind person at my first real job.

Also made by Grandma Dorrie before we were married.

My grandmother, Vera Marsh, crocheted these. There are four or five, for the amount of children we had at the time. She also crocheted blankets for Allison, Ethan, and Doran, but was too ill to get one done for Morgan.

I painted these before we were married. I was NOT going to have one of "those" early marriage trees, so I came to marriage with a dowry of a few painted plaster ornaments.

I will add to this more next year.