Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Thursday Thirteen Dec 10

This last weekend was my Christmas tree decorating party, and in the absence of of any other inspiration this week, I thought I would show you all my thirteen favorite Christmas ornaments. They are, in no particular order:


1. Shelly's ornament

This is a pretty simple ornament, but my friend Shelly painted it for me, and it's had a special place on the tree for close to 20 years now.

2. Red Angel


This angel is part of the set of ornaments I bought for the very first Christmas tree I had on my own. I collect angels in a small way, especially at Christmas.

3.Red and White from Nightmare Bazaar

For some reason I just love this ornament. The colors remind me of the tree at my dad's parents' house. They only ever had a white flocked tree with red balls. Period. I guess this ornament takes me back there without actually having to have a tree like that myself.

4. Pier 1 Snowflake


A couple years ago I added snowflakes to my list of things I collect at Christmas. For some reason not a lot of them made it on the tree this year, but this one from Pier 1 is one of my favorites.

5. Marshalls Pear

This is just one of a set of sparkly pear ornaments we got at Marshalls. They aren't anything fancy, but I love them.

6. Balsa Angel from Nightmare Bazaar

This is a balsa wood angel ornament from the Every Husband's Nightmare Bazaar. Mom and I go every year the weekend before Thanksgiving and always come away with something. This one is from the first year we ever went.

7. New Orleans Ornament

This is a sort of Mardi Gras themed ornament from our trip to New Orleans. My mom had always wanted to go there, and she and my two aunts and I went the Memorial Day before Hurricane Katrina. If I ever needed a reminder not to put off the things that are really important, this is it.

8. Jo Bunch Bell

This is a bell hand painted by our church minister's wife when I was in elementary school. We haven't seen her in years, but every time we put the ornaments on the tree we say, "It's a Jo Bunch bell." They're simple and beautiful and still some of my favorites.

9. Great Grandma Houseley Ornament

LOL - this is one of those ornaments that I both love and hate. It was made by a great grandmother that I don't have a lot of other memories of, so the big purple....rabbit? mouse? ...finds a home on the tree every year.

10. Horn Ornament

No one hear wants to actually hear me play the french horn anymore, but I used to. This was a present from a fellow horn player in college. I still love them and always find myself looking for a new horn ornament.

11. Danish Bell

This bell is part of a set my uncle's mom would send him from Denmark. My uncle was a chef who was usually working on Christmas Eve during our family celebration, and he's passed on now, but I'm glad to have these bells so he's with us still.

12. Cloisonne Bell

It's a bell, it's sparkly - pretty much a perfect Nikki Christmas ornament.

13. Belle Bell

This is another one of the ornaments from the tree in my first apartment. I love it because it's actually a bell (her feet dangle in the middle for the chime). It's a heavy ornament so it always has to go at the top, but it's still one of my favorites.

13 comments:

  1. Lovely ornaments, especially the Mardi Gras one. My tree is filled with many ornaments my kids made over the years and quite a few this year from my parents decorations. It makes me feel good putting them on the tree. Happy Holidays!

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  2. Pretty ornaments. It sounds as if they come with great memories.

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  3. Beautiful ornaments and memories! :) Happy Thursday!

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  4. I have those balsa wood angels on my tree, four different sizes to a total of about 50 (I have a big tree)

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  5. These are fantastic. Thanks for sharing. I love the bell ornaments.

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  6. Wonderful! I thin the stuffed mouse (that's the animal I'm going with) is really sweet. Though I like them all, that one reminds me of the year my mother was kind enough to let me do the entire Christmas tree in miniature stuffed animals. She's a sweetie.

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  7. Those are gorgeous!!
    I think my favorite is the French Horn.

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  8. I love the kind of ornaments that have special meaning like these.

    My TT isn't on blogger. It' at http://www.AliceAudrey.com

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  9. Beautiful ornaments. Our tree feel a few years ago and I lost most of my ornaments, but when my mom moved to an apartment, she gave me many of the ones I grew up with. I love sharing the stories behind each one with my boys.

    Hugs and Happy TT

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  10. Those are all very pretty, Nikki. I think the mouse/rabbit/thing is wonderful and I really like the color of the shiny bell.

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  11. Thank you to everyone for responding! I think it's great that everyone seems to have a different favorite from the list.

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  12. Those are cute! Love the rabbit/mouse!

    *hugs*
    Paige

    My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com

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  13. Pretty ornaments! I especially like the red-clad angel and hand-painted jingle bell.

    My post

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