Anyway, decorating the tree is always like a trip down memory lane. I have a wide range of ornaments from vintage 1930s to plush animals to recent Hallmark ornaments. The serve as reminders of Christmases past - and the people who gave them to me - or the places I visited when I bought them. That's part of the magic of Christmas.. reliving fond memories of days past and friends and family who may be gone. All of that wonderful nostalgia gets brought back up during Christmas time.
As I looked at the ornaments I thought it might be neat to share some of my Christmas stories with my readers.. all three of you. Might make a nice distraction for the chaos that tends to be on the flip side of the Christmas holiday.
--------- The Christmas Angel ------------------
My Grandparent's always had an angel on top of their Christmas tree. In fact, until recently, I always had an angel on top of my own tree because of the fond memories I have of Christmas at their house - though this year I opted for a 1940's star. Anywho--- I remember one Christmas Eve when the angel on Grandma's tree became a focal point of the holiday.
It was the late 1980s and the angel on the tree was well over a decade old. A few days before Christmas, the lights in this angel finally gave out. These were the days before fuses in the plug could be changed or perhaps it was the type that when one bulb went out, they all did.
I remember Gramps sitting at the kitchen table trying to get the lights to work, but to no avail. He finally admitted defeat and simply put the angel back on the tree. Without it's lights, I remember the top of their Christmas tree looking so dark. Gram and Gramps went to a few stores looking for a new angel, but didn't find anything they liked. So when Christmas Eve rolled around - which back then was when we had the big dinner at their home - the top of their tree remained dark.
I remember very clearly sitting on their living room sofa looking at the angel, wishing it would work for just one more Christmas - just for Grandpa's sake.. he worked so hard on it trying to fix it. Within a few minutes, the angel's lights suddenly came on! The angel remained illuminated for the rest of the night, but never worked again after that Christmas.
To this day I remember that moment as a Christmas miracle - a very simple miracle, but one that always comes to mind. Some times it's the simple things that stay with us... I don't remember a single present I got the Christmas, but I do remember that angel giving us one more Christmas of light!
