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.

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.


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.

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.


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

13.

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.