Christmas in March

Just indulge me...you're so good at it!  There were no Christmas posts in December.  December came and went.  Christmas came...we celebrated...it went.  I just wasn't writing.  Of course, I came down with what was probably THE oddest cold I've ever had...Christmas Day.  And, the day after Christmas, when most folks are hunting for all those "after" bargains, I went shopping for cold medicine.  I spend $50 on OTC cold medicine.  There were no bargains for the cold medicine.  I digress...forgive me.  Back to the story.

Every year, I think about having a "theme" Christmas tree.  I think about different motifs and I almost have myself convinced to do one and then we get the decorations out and I start going through the boxes.  Having a themed tree sounds lovely but when I see our collection of ornaments, the notion of a themed tree flies right out of the window.  Just about each and every one of them has a story.  I took pictures of a few of my favorites.  I thought it make a nice post.  Of course, I planned on posting in December about this rather December-centric subject, but eh...whatcha gonna do?

 If you ever get to the eastern part of Michigan, you MUST go to the little town of Frankenmuth.  In Frankenmuth, there is a store called Bronner's.  It is Christmas at Bronners...361 days of the year.  The close for New Year's Day, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.  They have all sorts of decorations.  I mean...ALL sorts.  I bought this one the last time we were in MI for Christmas. It was made in Russia...which is close enough to Ukraine...which is so close to my heart.

 

 

 This was Y1's first ornament for his first Christmas...that he didn't even know happened!  He was a whopping three weeks old.  The boyos get a new ornament every year.  When they fly the nest, their ornaments will go with them.  They'll have a good start on a very interesting collection.

 

 

 During the Knoxville years, I was the preschool Sunday school director/teacher/nursery director.  This was a gift from one of my little darlings.  His name was Cody and he was a sweetie pie.   His family was on summer vacation and he picked it out for me.  Her feathers have gotten pretty sparse over the years.

 

 

 This was one of my childhood ornaments.  My name's engraved on the bottom and their used to be a little bell hanging from her hands.  The bell is long gone.  I've lost my bell...the explanation to so much.

 

 Here is one of a set of four.  Each depicts a different season.  They are made out of real egg shells.  Mr. Snark's aunt made them and gifted them to us.  I treasure them!

 

 This was for Y2's first Christmas.  He was all of four months old.  I don't think it was all that impressive to him.

 

 Both of the kids got these to commemorate the mission trip to New York.  What a great trip!

 

 I've never met the artist, but I adore her husband.  Her name is Helena and her husband is my sweet Russian friend, Alexei.  He was our translator on each of the three Ukraine trips that I made.  He used to drive a tank for the Soviet army...until he put one of them in the ditch.  Alexei is also the one that said "I slap Bro. Pat so he will have remembrance of me!"  Slap Pat is like Uno...with homemade Slap Pat cards inserted just to make things spicy.  Pat is our missions leader.  Pat is a good sport.

 

 

 Someone's gotta guard the tree from The Grinch!  This was in commemoration of Y1's Spiderman phase.  "Go web, go!"

 

 A gift from Hester the Great...it was made in Poland and it is just beautiful.

 

 

 Mr. Snark and the boyos gave this to me for our first Christmas in B'ham!  Every time I see her, I think of all my sweet Ukrainian sisters.  The recollection of their faces and names and our time together is even more precious knowing how chaotic their part of the world has become...accepting that I might not ever see them face to face, this side of Glory.

 

If you have to ask, then you haven't been here very long.