 (This entry was written back in 2003. I was going to write about this ornament today but, since I already had, I figured I would just reuse this one.)
That is my favorite of all our Christmas ornaments. It's beaten, battered, the painting was never the best to begin with, but the lamb is my favorite. It's only 3 by 2 inches, worn in spots, barely any weight in my hand. A lamb is my favorite ornament. It holds a place of honor on our tree, near the top, center. As high up on the tree as I can reach, which when combining a 6 foot tree and a 2 foot box, really is pretty amazing as I am a whole 5 foot 3 inches and round. I try to place that ornament first, before everything but the lights, so I won't have to knock anything off below it. I love that ornament. Why is it so special? My Grandma, Susan, made it, years and years ago, when Daddy was a little boy. The first half of my first name (Susan-Jane is my first name for those of you who are new around here) is from here. And I was one of her favorites. The first child of her baby boy, I made an even dozen grandchildren and she had always stated she wanted at least a dozen. Grandma and I had a bond, she spoiled me rotten, I loved her dearly. Grandma died when I was very young, yet I remember her very well. Which brings us back to this ornament. When my family moved into this house, we had a metal shed in the backyard. In it went all our seasonal stuff; camping equipment, outdoor stuff, Easter baskets, and our Christmas ornaments. We hadn't lived here but a few months, when Daddy noticed the shed open early one morning. Upon inspecting things, all our camping equipment and all our Christmas decorations were gone. Nothing else was disturbed, just those things. All of our tree ornaments, including the ones from my Grandfather's family, a few of which came straight from Poland, the ones us kids made in school, the ones Mom made, the ones she had collected, a little red plastic house that Daddy adored and the ones from Grandma. Heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe it. That first Christmas after the loss was rough. We has bought new stuff, but it just wasn't the same. Until I remembered that I had one ornament in my dresser. A small wooden lamb that I had kept in my room so I could look at it when I was down. I brought it out, we place it on the tree and it helped. One ornament from pretheft made the whole tree look much more like our tree, instead of a generic store tree. |
That is a beautiful entry! We have those same wooden ornaments. My mom painted most of them, as I was not an arts-and-craftsy kid, and they're lovely. They're on my tree right now! However, the ones I painted were horrible, and I've thrown them out.