Museum of Me: Favorite "Somethings" From the Holidays

The Museum of Me staff has been hard at work on this month's installation. As you might expect it's A Favorite "Something" from the Holidays. 

Many of my favorite holiday somethings are ornaments. I always thought this was true, but I proved it several years ago with the lengths that I was willing to go to display some of our ornaments. Ryan, Justin, and I had always gotten the tree together, and it was a fun and easy activity. The boys joked around, carried the tree, we were able to throw it in the back of Justin's truck, and then they helped to put it in the tree stand and bring it in the house. In 2018, Justin was in Texas, Ryan was in Colorado, and John viewed getting a tree as an odious task that he had no interest in. I wanted some sort of tree, so I resorted to setting up a three-foot artificial tree that Justin used to have in his room when he was in middle school. It looked small and insignificant, so I ended up placing it on an empty Corona beer box to make it a little taller. I hid the Corona box (sort of) with our traditional tree skirt, but it still looked like a small, sparse artificial tree on a Corona box. I wish I had a picture of it, but it's slightly embarrassing to even recount this, and it might be even more so if I shared a photo. It was about as bad as you are imagining.

So in 2019, I bought an artificial tree from Balsam Hill, and have been happy with it. It's not nearly as much fun as getting a tree with Ryan and Justin, but it looks nice, I can set it up by myself, and it has plenty of space for all my favorite ornaments. I haven't set the tree up yet this year (maybe this weekend), so on your visit to the Museum today you'll see two of my all-time favorite ornaments featured by themselves on a little Norfolk Island pine. (The Museum staff was specifically instructed not to place this little tree on a Corona beer box.)

The first piece in the holiday favorites is an angel that I've had since I was 5. Our church had a children's candlelight service, and all the kids in the congregation got to choose an ornament from the tree that stood next to the nativity. I remember considering very carefully which ornament was the best one and taking a lot of time. It may have been an attempt to move things along, but the minister came over, plucked this one off the tree, and said it looked just like me so it was clearly mine. I felt so special, so this ornament has always been special to me. The tinsel is tarnished and flaking off, but I can still recall a bit of that special feeling when I hang it on the tree. 

I couldn't decide between these two treasured ornaments, so the staff and I set both of them up for exhibit this month in the Museum. When I was in first grade, my teacher instructed all of us to make an ornament for homework, and then we would bring them in for our classroom tree. I wanted to make the most beautiful ornament but had no idea what it should look like or how to begin. Many times, my mother and I just weren't on the same wavelength, but this time she totally understood what I wanted. 

We dyed an egg pink (my favorite color when I was six) and then my mother blew it out. I was amazed that she could do this and sure it would break, but my mother assured me we could do it. We added glitter, holly leaves cut out of felt, and sequins for berries. For extra sparkle, we glued on rhinestones. 

I knew it was perfect when we finished it, and I remember it as being the most beautiful ornament on the first-grade tree. It's a marvel that it didn't get broken on the bus taking it to and from school, and even more of a miracle that it has lasted 58 years. Every year when I get it out I expect it to be cracked or broken, but so far it's remained whole. It's a bit of a Christmas miracle and one of the best remembrances I have of my mother. 

Be sure to visit Kym today for her new exhibit, and several other bloggers may also be participating. The Museum exhibits will be changed monthly on the second Friday of the month, so please stop by again in January for the next carefully curated installation. (The gift shop is on the right on your way out!)