Christmas at our house includes a lot of traditions. One of them is presenting my kids with an ornament for the tree that represents something that happened that year, or something important to them at that time of their lives.
There's a Spiderman for the year my younger son spent most of his time in a Spidey costume and perfected climbing the walls. A karate figure for the year he got his black belt. Santa reaching for the stars when he got accepted at college.
The older son, who was born to fly, gets one of the Hallmark airplane series every year. There's a robot for the year he was into robotics competition, a violin for the year he got first chair ... well. You get the idea. Most years they get more than one, so it has accumulated into quite a collection. Putting them on the tree and sharing the memories each one brings has always been a treasured event.
So it came as a bittersweet moment this week when the older son showed up with a box and asked for his ornaments. He's putting up his first tree in his own home, and it was always the intent that the kids' collections would go with them when the time came.
We brought up the bin and sorted through, this one is yours, this is your brother's - do you remember when we went to the lake? You made this one in kindergarten. This set came for you from your grandmother, and I know she'd want you to have them.
I was touched to see how much the ornaments meant to him. And I love the thought that they will always bring back happy times for him. That was the intent all along. But it was really hard to see them go.
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7 comments:
My mother and grandmother did the same for me and my siblings. It's such a treat to return from university and see those ornaments on the tree.
What a nice thing to do. I know about the hard part. We are on our last leg of our life so now comes the hard part. Take my dads clock it was the only thing I had of his now it is gone. Four kids ,one clock. All would like to have it. What do you do.I ended up giving it to the one that I hoped would pass it on. Thats life
You have a good day Bye Bye Ed
I know how you feel..My daughter took some of hers with her this fall. It was bittersweet...sigh..
I know the feeling well. As both daughters became adults and went on their own so did their ornaments. Since then we have moved on also. From NJ to ESVA. Along the way we have collected special ornaments and now have a full tree again. And we get to 'visit' the daughter trees and have started a 'Grandson' collection. Life is good.
GTB
That's really lovely. I'm glad he feels so attached to them. I have many of my ornaments from growing up too. My mom gave them to me several years ago. It's so wonderful to have my childhood on the tree.
Oh, I love that he wanted them. That is so sweet.
Sounds like you all know exactly how I feel. Tree ornaments are so special, carrying memories of childhood and loved ones. Passing them down from generation to generation is a wonderful part of the holiday.
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