Today was “Black” Friday. For many, this was a day of shopping frenzy. The mere thought of fighting crowds for a bargain makes me shudder. For me, this was a much happier day. It was hardly black. The day after Thanksgiving is the day that we unbox and begin decorating for Christmas. The first part of the day is arduous. We have many boxes of decorations in storage and the amount grows every year. All of them must be loaded onto Wil’s truck and hauled home. It took 2 trips. But most of the day was filled with happy memories.
I started my decorating with my classroom. There I have a tall “pencil” thin Christmas tree that I decorate with school-related ornaments my students have given me over the years. There is a gold pencil, several apples, “best teacher” ornaments, a miniature teacher bag with tiny teacher tools spilling out, many Peanuts and Snoopy ornaments (to match my classroom decor), and simple balls hand-lettered by students. Many of the ornaments have student names on the back and as I unwrap each one, a sweet little face springs to mind.
Back home, I unpacked many more ornaments and decorations. I have more here that were given to me by students. Some harken back over 30 years. There is the beautifully carved rocking horse music box from Denley, the nutcracker from Taylor, the snowman from Natalie, and the mug from Misty. On my tree at home are more ornaments from students—some I can recall and others I cannot. There is the beautiful, fragile ornament from Denmark given to me over 25 years ago by a colleague.
Many more precious ornaments are family related. There is the “Baby’s First Christmas” cradle ornament from my daughter’s first Christmas and a similar rocking chair ornament from my son’s first Christmas. There is the wedding cake ornament from 2008 when Wil and I married, as well as the Paris Hotel ornament from where we spent our first married night in Las Vegas. I have a tiny baby jingle bell from my grandson’s first Christmas. I even have a plaster paw print from my first grand-kitty.
I have an enormous and ever growing collection of ornaments from my travels. A long time ago, I decided to buy Christmas ornaments as souvenirs from the places I traveled. I have a few from limited travels with my first husband. I have many, many more from my travels with my best friend, Debra. She and I have criss-crossed the country and crossed a couple of oceans on summertime adventures. I have a quickly growing collections from my travels with Wil.
What I love about my travel ornaments are the memories they stir. I look at my New York City ornament and remember the bustling crowds. I unwrap the Boston ducks ornament and I can picture the Public Garden. I unbox the Minnesota ornament and remember staring up at the huge Paul Bunyan statue. I slip the ornament of Louisa May Alcott out of its cellophane and I am transported back to her Massachusetts home.
One by one the ornaments remind of Hawaiian flowers, Alaskan glaciers, Caribbean cruises, Smoky Mountains, and Norwegian fjords. A tiny golden gavel takes me back to the Supreme Court building. A little Key West bottle opener reminds me that I should have had a wild time there, but didn’t. There are ornaments from world famous landmarks and others from tiny shops in tiny towns. Just from our driving trip to Iowa a few weeks ago, I have ornaments from Lincoln’s museum in Springfield, the National Motorcycle Museum, the Field of Dreams, Hoover’s Presidential Library, the American Gothic House, John Wayne’s birthplace, the Mark Twain Museum, the Superman Museum in Metropolis, and Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. It’s an extremely diverse group of happy memories.
Because I have sooo many ornaments collected on travels, we added a second Christmas tree to our house this year just to house the travel collection. Our first tree has a classic angel on top. For the travel tree, I opted for a beautiful star. Hundreds of years ago, my ancestors traveled by the stars, so I thought it was appropriate.
I didn’t get all of the ornaments unboxed and unwrapped today. I got a late start after working at school, doing a bit of necessary shopping (long after the morning frenzy was over), and having our usual Friday night Mexican dinner. I am looking forward to many more happy memories to be revealed and hung on our Christmas trees tomorrow.
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