A Treasured Ornament

Since winter has decided to grace us with its presence, full on, in November – I figure now is a great time to start preparing for Christmas. With plunging temperatures outside my house lately and a wind chill that could freeze your shadow to the sidewalk, I took the stuck-inside-the-house-opportunity to put up a tree. Albeit, this year\’s model is an artificial one, the house is starting to show off a little more Christmas sparkle.

I think 2013 will be the first time my kids really start to understand Christmas a wee bit. At least, they didn\’t scream their heads off when we went to sit on Santa\’s lap a couple of weeks ago. A good sign, I\’m thinking <grin.>

One thing that has not changed from last year to this, however, is the height at which I can start hanging the breakable decorations on the tree…

These little John Deere tractor lights are some of our son\’s favorite embellishments. I constantly have to survey his toy area for little tractors that aren\’t actually toys <grin.>

There are several others decorations on out tree that reflect our western way of life. I have many favorites. One such decoration includes this Santa, about to saddle up his mount:

Then of course, there\’s the Santa who is already aboard a rank steed:

However, one of my all-time favorite ornaments is this home-made, tiny replica of a Western Horse Review. This issue of the magazine featured the very first article I ever wrote for WHR (which at that time, was named Northern Horse Review).

The ornament is my all-time, single most treasured ornament for several reasons. One being the fact that it represents my first article. But secondly, this ornament was created just for me by my mother. It reminds me of the days in my early childhood when she was a single mom and I was all of 4. She didn\’t have a lot of money back then but she never let that spoil Christmas for either my sister or I. We couldn\’t afford to buy tree decorations, so we made them out of dough – hard baked, shellacked and hung with wool.

And years later, the tides have changed and we are each blessed with the opportunity to buy any Christmas trimming our hearts desire. Yet, it is still the handmade ones that mean the most to me.

Maybe one day I\’ll figure out that recipe for dough decorations and share it with my children.

Here\’s wishing you many blessings in December!