OT - What Ornament Means The Most to You?

Fred19Flintstone

The Decoration thread gave me an idea.   Ornaments made by your children don't count. 

My most valuable ornament is glass and quite cheap. One Christmas before I was born my parents were moving into the house I would live in until I went to college.  My brother was a toddler and my sister an infant and moving was just too much for my Mom.  She wanted a Christmas tree set up, but what box are the ornaments in?  My Dad said not to worry, he'll go out and buy a tree and some tree décor. He returned with a tree, some strands of white lights, some packages of tinsel and four dozen glass ornament bulbs.  The bulbs were all four or five inch diameter and all bright fuchsia in color.  They must have been on sale.  He wanted to decorate it to surprise Mom.  My Mom said it was so hideous she couldn't stop laughing.  Those fuchsia bulbs have been lovingly used and have broken over the years with four kids, big dogs and all that goes with that.  All us kids received a fuchsia bulb when we started our own families and we display ours every year.  I wouldn't trade it for gold, frankincense or myrrh and would be upset if it broke.  

johnkitchens

This is a hard post for me to read tonight. : (

theyolksonyou

Cool story Fred. We're always late to get a tree compared to a lot of folks. I'll have to look at them. One that comes to mind is a giant blue ball that my oldest son picked out just about the time he was old enough to clearly communicate. Blue was his favorite color then. This thing is out of scale with anything else we own and it looks like tinsel I guess is the best way to describe it. My wife hated it, but she relented. Before this our trees had to be color coordinated and all that jazz. Kids changed that and I guess that's the start if that change.

hey, turns out that was easy. No need to look through them.

Grillin_beers

My favorite is a Gold ornament my grandfather gave me on my first Xmas. Every year he gave me one from the same collection until he died. I recently had them appraised and insured but I would never consider selling them.

erniemcclain

So, my lovely bride of 32 years and I both grew up in West Michigan.  As a wedding present, some friends got us a big green ornament from Bronners with our names and wedding date on it.  Without a doubt our favorite.  It goes top center every year.

Fred19Flintstone

erniemcclain said:

So, my lovely bride of 32 years and I both grew up in West Michigan.  As a wedding present, some friends got us a big green ornament from Bronners with our names and wedding date on it.  Without a doubt our favorite.  It goes top center every year.

Bronners is just a hop, skip & a jump from me.  If you ever want anything from there, let me know.

JohnInCarolina

I'm not sure if it means the most to me, but a couple of years ago someone in the neighborhood gave us this "aquaman".  It's always something of a conversation piece.

nolaegghead

There was an ornament during my childhood that didn't fit in with the other ornaments on our tree.  My mother's consternation on the ornament meeting the "family standards" was a constant source of uneasiness during holiday season dinner and the awkward subsequent discussion.  My little sister argued the ornament's not "fitting in" - it represented the oppressed, and my mother's distraction and unwarranted focus on the "little sad ornament that didn't belong" as a type of fascism representative of society.  My dad said, "enough is enough" and squashed it.  We were all horrified but secretly gratified.  Afterwards, he felt bad and bought the "Aquaman" ornament.  We all lived happily ever after until I got on this forum.

BYS1981

I don't have the ornament I consider my favorite, but I'm a sucker for a Snoopy on his dog house my mom made. I remember putting that specific ornament up every year. I can't find it, but it's probably at my dad's house.

fishlessman

i only have one ornament, its a mini outhouse and it sits under the rosemary tree in the kitchen

Jeepster47

On top of our tree is a silver and gold star.  Made out of heavy aluminum foil.  The kind where it's lit up with a C7 bulb stuck through the back.  It's shape is dubious at best ... lots of straightening has taken place over the years.  Original cost was less than a dollar.

It's been on every tree my wife and I have had for 45 years.

RRP

My wife and I have been married for 48 years now and while we have none carried forward from our childhood we have many collected over the years which flood us with fond memories from the past including milestones. For that reason and befitting of this forum here's a favorite custom made glass one denoting our entry into eggdom!

Zmokin

Hmm, I don't know if it means the most to me, but the coolest ornament we have is:

First, I want to say we have probably over 100 hallmark ornaments on our tree.  It takes me hours to unbox each ornament, some require putting batteries in, others require plugging in to two old light strings I keep just for these ornaments, others require nothing as they have no "special effects".

OK, with that said, we have this one battery operated ornament that is a Star Trek communicator.
When you open it, it makes the traditional communicator sound.  but inside it has 2 buttons.  Press one button and it plays a Captain Kirk quote.  It has 7 different quotes it cycles through.  The other button has 9 quotes, one by Uhura, a few by Scotty and the rest by Spock.

so for the last few years, it has been my favorite ornament, but I don't know if it holds sentimental value or not.  We have another ornament, where you insert a picture of your choice, and record a message of your choice.  My son was 5 I think when we bought it, so it has a picture of the family and the message is him wishing us a Merry Xmas and saying I Love you Mommy & Daddy.  It has non-volatile memory, so you can remove the batteries every year to prevent corrosion damage, and it retains the recorded message.  It has a lock switch to prevent accidental erasure.

gamason

I have about 8 ornaments that belonged to my Grandmother. They were from the WWII era and made of very thin glass. They are almost transparent now they are so old, but they go on the tree every year.

Doc_Eggerton

I guess my Nac Mac Feegle given to me by my youngest daughter.

“An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!”

gabriegger

These

Mickey

RRP said:

My wife and I have been married for 48 years now and while we have none carried forward from our childhood we have many collected over the years which flood us with fond memories from the past including milestones. For that reason and befitting of this forum here's a favorite custom made glass one denoting our entry into eggdom!

Really would have thought I would have been married longer than you (45 ). Well we gave building BGE ornaments a run. Sorry, I give up.

Doc_Eggerton

Mickey said:

RRP said:

My wife and I have been married for 48 years now and while we have none carried forward from our childhood we have many collected over the years which flood us with fond memories from the past including milestones. For that reason and befitting of this forum here's a favorite custom made glass one denoting our entry into eggdom!

Really would have thought I would have been married longer than you (45 ). Well we gave building BGE ornaments a run. Sorry, I give up.

I feel like such a youngster at only 33 years of marrage.

Mickey

When my first Granddaughter was born we said they could come from Frisco (North Dallas) for Thanksgiving but we would always travel there for Christmas. That way they could have Christmas in there own house and no travel (15 years ago). So for the past 15 years no decorations needed at my house. At about that same time the Capital of Texas Gift Store started selling a new different with date printed on decoration. So from year one we buy two each year and present daughter hers each Thanksgiving. A few years ago my wife said e are going to put up a tree so we bought a 3 foot that we only decorate in the Texas State Capital tree ornaments. Plus my favorite 25+ year old Poodle tree topper.