Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries? Did your family or ancestors make Christmas ornaments?
I don’t remember as a child having any specific cherished ornaments. I remember the fun and excitement in the air on the day that we decorated the tree. I know that with 5 of us kids there must have been many handmade ornaments that we hung each year. Sadly I don’t even know what ever happened to our childhood Christmas ornaments…
The Christmas before I was married in 1980, I had my first ever tree in my apartment. Not having a lot of money for decorations, my sister and I spent a great deal of time making our own ornaments out of wrapping paper or whatever we could find. We even wrapped old cigarette boxes with gift wrap and put bows on them to make little presents that sat on tree branches! I still have many of them still today. After we finished decorating that little tree…there were small little snippets of wrapping paper that my sister and I folded in accordion style and threw on the tree at the end. I have saved one of those little pieces now for over 30 years and each year the last ornament on the tree is that sliver of wrapping paper. I now have it encased inside a crystal clear ornament.
Kathi O'Neill Genealogy 