Ornaments on my Christmas Tree, 2022
The new ornaments this year are Thomas Kinkade Santas that were given to me.
My mother made hundreds of Christmas ornaments over the years. Many people think of her when they decorate their trees. The majority of them were stitched on plastic canvas. Some were done as projects for the Brownie Scouts she led for years, such as the snowman made from a light bulb.
I have a few ornaments that are souvenirs from my travels. In 2011 I took a cruise to eastern Canada. We stopped at Bar Harbor, Maine, on the way, and I got the moose at the Acadia National Park gift shop.
In November, 2012, I went to the ESPN basketball tournament in Orlando. I had planned to go to Disney World that year anyway. In 2008 I went to Disneyland in California and realized it had been 40 years ago since I had been there. I had been to Disney World in 1982, so I figured on returning there for the thirtieth anniversary of that trip, not trusting that I would live to the fortieth. Our tournament package included passes for the Disney parks for two days. I bought the Mickey Sorcerer’s Apprentice ornament then. Note that you can see behind him a broom carrying buckets of water.
The last three years that Davidson was in the Southern Conference, the conference tournament was held in Asheville. I enjoyed visiting the town, of course as always, and bought items from artists there. One year we took a drive on a bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at the Folk Art Center. I bought the fiddle and banjo ornaments there.
In December, 2010, I took the train to Williamsburg and toured for a couple days. I didn't buy this ornament at that time. A friend later sent it to me.
In the fall of 2019 I traveled in Italy. This ornament was designed by an artist in Florence and features some of the art works there. It doesn't photograph well because of the ball’s texture over the picture. It looks great in person. I realize that it would be a better picture if I had cropped out the bears, but it was more fun to leave them in.
This new shot may show the dsign up a little better.
Closer to home are my almae matres. The red ball pictures the Chambers Building on the Davidson College campus. The snowflake incorporates the college seal. At one reunion at SMU we were given ornaments featuring Perkins Chapel.
Most Sundays I attend Davidson United Methodist Church. I was given this ornament when I was singing in one of their choirs. The design is from the window behind the altar.
Both of my parents spent their final days at White Oak Manor in Shelby. They have an annual memorial service honoring the residents who died during the year. They give a glass angel ornament to the families at that service.
In the 1980s the Rubik’s Cube was a popular puzzle. After I learned to solve them, I bought a small key chain model and turned it to make what is called the Christmas Cross design. I've used it on my trees ever since. I hope nobody ever messes it up, since I couldn’t solve that now.
in 2016 Torrey Curtis and I did a driving trip through the Rockies. Pictures from that trip are indexed here. We took the scenic train ride from Durango to Silverton.
I don’t put a lot of ornaments on the tree, since people just see the lights from outside. I do fill in with some odds and ends of ornaments I like.
I got an adaptor to let me use my old lenses on my new camera. With the sensor size difference, the 16mm zoom becomes like 13mm, with resulting distortion of perspective. The picture below is cropped down from the 13mm-ish view. It gives you a somewhat contextual though distorted view of the DUMC ornament. My mother years ago gave me the gold strand with musical symbols. So many of them have fallen off that I may not use it again. Each year I vacuum more and more of them along with the needles off the tree.
