The Keepsake Tree

It took me a while to get the big tree decorated. I think the decor has been strewn about the house for 3 weeks now, and just this weekend I finally got around to putting the fun on the largest of the trees. I think it was the fact that so much goes on that tree that it just loomed large in my mind like an unwanted task.

The large tree is our keepsake tree. Nothing is of value on it, but it's all invaluable to us. The crocheted snowflakes Sam's grandmother made each of the grand kids are on there. We have about 3 dozen of those. His grandmother passes away several years back, but I'll never forget when she came to Alaska to visit after Becky was born. I asked if she'd teach me to crochet so that I could make my own snowflakes, and she nearly cried. She said everyone asks her to make things for them, but not one person has ever asked her to teach them. She took me to the store that same day to get supplies to get me started. I love those snowflakes. They started something that meant so much to both grandma and I.

I put ribbon garland and my over sized ornaments on the tree, and the only other decoration are the kids keepsake ornaments. These things take so long to put on the tree because there are so many of them. Grandma got the kids each an ornament every year for Christmas since they were born, and I got the kids each one most years. Grandma's ornaments were all the Hallmark ones for Baby's First Year, 2nd Year..., and after they reached the 5th year she got Hallmark ornaments that fit each kid. I got ornaments for the kids most years that represented something they were doing that year.

There's the ornament for the year Josh was in basketball, and the ornament with the little boy in a red wagon with a black puppy for the year we got our black lab. The brown pony for the year we got Tommy and Flash for Micah, and a french bulldog for last year when we acquired the french people pack that we have fallen in love with.

The little shepherd boy for the year Luke was a shepherd in the church play and was so excited about it that it was all he could talk about.

There is a Toy Story ornament and a Shrek ornament for the years Micah loved those movies and watched them constantly.

A little girl with a kitten for the year Becky got her black cat, Daisy, that ran off the next year when the door was let open. We might even forget that we had that cat so long ago if we didn't have the ornament to remind us.

There's the ornament for the year Josh was in Boy Scout, and soccer ones for Becky and Josh for the years they played AYSO.

There are ornaments for each year we spent in Alaska while Sam was in the Air Force.

And some from vacations, like a memento of our trips to New England and some from the year we went to Walt Disneyland in California when Josh was just 6 months old.

There are so many ornaments. So many. And each one has a memory with it. And each one makes you stop and smile, or talk about it with the kids, who also stop and smile. And when the tree is done, its definitely our very favorite tree in the house.