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Friday, November 28, 2014

Christmas Heirlooms

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Are you ready for Christmas? Or if you’re not ready, hope you're at least enjoying a fun Friday, looking forward to the celebration of our Savior’s birth.

For children, the joy of Christmas comes from the wonder and anticipation of the season. Older people more often find joy in memories that settle deep into the soul, built layer upon layer. Christmas heirlooms are the catalyst guaranteed to recall those memories of Christmases past, and all the joy they hold.

Every family has its own unique heirlooms. One of the most enduring is the crèche.

According to tradition, Saint Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene in 1223 as a live representation of the Holy Birth. The Nativity scene inspired communities throughout Catholic countries to stage similar pantomimes.

As the centuries progressed, figurines of clay, terra cotta, and porcelain were produced to display in public and in homes. Besides Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus, shepherds, sheep, angels, and the Magi were added to the setting. Displaying the crèche became almost as popular as the Christmas tree. Customs evolved, such as assigning the honor of placing the baby Jesus to the family’s youngest child.

The family crèche was a prized heirloom passed down from generation to generation, but it's not the only Christmas keepsake.

Whether store-bought or hand-made, ornaments are popular heirlooms. As the custom of decorating a Christmas tree grew, the need for ornaments naturally increased.

Victorians made most of their ornaments, and the instructions for constructing them were included the magazines of the day. Balls, bird nests, cones, and framed pictures were made of wood, fabric, paper, and whatever nature provided.

The late 1800s saw the rise of tin pressed ornaments, but the most prized ornaments were of blown glass, usually imported from Germany. These were so expensive a household would probably possess only one or two. Then sometime between the two world wars, American companies began manufacturing glass ornaments. After WWII, F. W. Woolworth made these ornaments available in his five and dime stores.

As the cheaper ornaments became available, hand-crafted heirlooms fell out of popularity. A shame in my opinion, because it’s the school projects brought in by grade-schoolers or things intricately stitched, embroidered, crocheted, and glued by mothers that hold the best memories.

When I was growing up we had a box of heirloom ornaments. A house fire destroyed them years ago, and only one of my crafts has endured to become a true heirloom. During a particularly lean year, I didn’t have enough in the Christmas budget to buy a nice Christmas tree skirt, so I looked through my left-over yarn. Not much was available in the colors I needed, but I started crocheting and this is it.

Half a lifetime later it still wraps around the trunk of our Christmas tree. Cats and puppies have played under it. Babies have chewed on it. Children have lain on it, playing games. Toys have snagged it. Large and small piles of packages have rested on top of it. After a wash, it’s good as new. I can’t imagine a Christmas without it.

That’s what an heirloom is—enduring through the years, bringing back the memories.

Does your family have a Christmas heirloom that means a lot to you?

11 comments:

  1. My mother has a few glass Christmas tree ornaments that are very old & precious & beautiful. She still uses them, but each year at least one gets broken. She believes they should be used & appreciated & not just stuffed in a box. They tend to just drop in the middle of the night. It's like a gun shot as it hits the floor.

    I still have all the decorations my children made in Kindy. So, going back 2-3 decades now. A little tatty & worn, but they take pride of place each Christmas.

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    1. I think your mother is right, Mary. Heirloom ornaments are meant to be brought out and enjoyed for as long as they last.

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  2. Lovely! I have an angel who has a whole in it, one lost wing, but she's still as precious as ever! Good post.

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    1. I know what you mean, Caroline. I made a glitter covered pine cone in school, and it held the place of honor all through my childhood, though it had lost all its glitter at the end.

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  3. We have a nativity set my mom always set out. It brings back memories of Christmases at my grandmother's.

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  4. I have some handmade ornaments from my children that as special to me.. I do have one snowman of my Mother's that is special to me :)

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  5. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your memories, Patti and Deanna.

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  6. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your memories, Patti and Deanna.

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  7. We have a large glass ornament my grandmother received from her brother when she was 14 years old - that's 1916. In a couple of years, it will officially be an antique.

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