What's on my tree Wednesday...

Ok here we go, week two of What's on my tree Wednesday... I chose a little different ornament this week, and believe me, my decision was tough, I was just in taking a ton of pictures of ornaments on my tree, but I chose this specific one for the memories and good times it holds:

It's definitely hard to see, but its the memory that matters. This ornament was given to me in 1994 for being a designer in the Festival of Trees. The festival is held in our community each year as a fundraiser for the Home Health Care Foundation. Unfortunately, in my divorce I lost some things, and one of those things was my Christmas Tree photo album. I really wish I had it to look back over the trees I decorated. In 1994 I did my first tree with my sister, we had a lot of fun and it was a "Stars and Stripes" forever and we made all of the decorations on it. It was very cute.

1995 was a very difficult year, my grandmother passed away and I did a tree in honor of her and my grandfather. It was "Angels Among Us" and I did that tree all by myself and handmade each and every ornament on it. It was a labor of love and a lot of late nights crying my eyes out while I made the ornaments. It was also therapeutic and I came to terms with my loss.

The following year I did two trees. I did a big one for Miller's Merry Manor and I started in August and I went to the nursing home every Tuesday afternoon and I hosted the craft time with the residents and we made the ornaments for the trees. Some of the ladies had other ornaments and decorations they made and they entrusted me with their treasures for "our tree". I cannot begin to tell you what an enriching experience that was for me. The memories of the people will be forever etched in my heart.

One lady, oh my, she was such a spitfire, she would tell me how to do what we were going to do. She would call me at home and tell me what we should do the following week, such a pistol. She called me aside one day and she had a bag of "very special decorations" that she wanted on our tree, but there was a stipulation, I had to get them back to her by the day after Christmas because her family was all coming to visit her for Christmas on the 28th and they were the gifts she was giving them.

I felt so honored that she entrusted me with what was precious to her. As fate would have it, the day after Christmas I received a phone call that she had passed away that morning. She was up and getting ready for breakfast and just died. She went fast and painlessly. I was devastated, she was such a pistol, I knew going into the project that it could and would possibly happen, but she just wasn't the one I expected it to happen to so soon. So there I was left with this promise I had made and I had no idea of how to best keep the promise. The only thing I could do was to write a note to her family and wrap the ornaments in a box and take them to them at the funeral home. I did, I gave them to her son and told the story and do you know I received a thank you note from each and every member of that family thanking me for keeping my promise to Tillie.

The other tree I did that year was called "Christmas by the Sea!" I loved the idea, hated the tree. I fought tooth and nail with that tree every step of the way. I never was happy with the way it looked. The night of the preview party, I actually climbed over the roped area and went in and started messing with the tree some more. My husband grabbed my arm and pulled me back and told me to just stand and look at it and see what everyone else was seeing...I had no idea what he meant, I looked at him, the tree and him again, so then he redirected me to the stand showing the title, the designer, sponsor, etc of the tree and then I saw it, the first place ribbon for the most original tree....you just never know!

The following years I have judged, hosted kids craft days and most recent years I just enjoy being a spectator....but who knows, maybe one of these days....

I want to thank Katie at This Crazy Life for hosting this blog carnival and making me go down memory lane and leading me back to Christmas in my heart.