The contrast of seasons, summer to winter with a short visit by autumn, causes us to pause.
While Alaska summers bring never-ending days filled with outdoor activities and visitors, our winters slow us down giving us a moment to reflect. We will gather to fill our bellies with traditional recipes. Our souls are replenished by memories made with those we cherish.
However much time we have together, it’s never enough. Our family tradition has been to put up our Christmas tree post-Thanksgiving giving a clear separation of the holidays. This year to make the most of shortened visits, I decided to have the tree up and decorated pre-Thanksgiving.
Once our children arrived 21 years ago, I began collecting Christmas ornaments in triplicate. I thought, as each child moved on into their adult life, they would inherit a collection of ornaments which adorned our family tree during their childhood, giving them a foundation of Christmas memories. I left notes how each ornament had been acquired, giving a basic history.
Prior to parenthood, our decorations were more varied. As all newlyweds, we had little money. I recall saving for one ornament, a jolly Santa head. The original price was $7.99, far beyond our budget. I waited for the price to drop to $2.99 with an extra 20% markdown before securing this still cherished ornament.
A family member tatted us precious snowflakes for our first Christmas together. I keep them with her handwritten note.
That same Christmas, my mother-in-law gifted us a set of glass icicles. I can still hear her say how pretty the lights would reflect off the glass. Each Christmas added bits and pieces to our tree. From 2016 a replica of an antique fire truck, one of many fire department-themed decorations collected. The handmade glass cardinal purchased during our first trip to Maui. The shop where we found it was destroyed during the wildfires last year — an addendum to the story of that vacation.
Once our children were old enough to craft, we added a unique collection of handmade art made by each child. These are cherished pieces. Their quirky handiwork is placed alongside the similar pieces made by their father when he was about their age.
My mother-in-law seemed very eager to pass along the Styrofoam ball covered in glitter with a cutout just large enough for a bit of cotton and a 1960s Santa head. Our kids refer to it as the “Creepy Santa.”
We were gifted ornaments from my husband’s grandparents who were married in 1920. Now more than 100 years old, these oversized pastel orbs have adorned a tree during WWI, WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars and every bit of history that has transpired to date.
Along with these relics are tiny wooden angels carved by an artist from Kodiak, antique mercury class balls, Fenton glass bulbs from our home state of West Virginia, colorful bottle brush trees, and pieces that have traveled to us from around the world with delicate details of handcrafted talent.
Besides the many ornaments, we have a quilted stuffed fabric Christmas Tree, from the 1970s along with a ceramic tree with colored lights on each branch that glow.
As a teenager, I helped make Christmas decorations using crushed velvet in an ornate frame. Old broaches, clip-on earrings, ropes of pearls and beads were pulled from family jewelry boxes to be repurposed into jeweled Christmas trees glued to the velvet. We have the very one from 1981 that I helped create.
Each piece of Christmas décor sitting in all corners of our home carries a history, a piece of our family story, a bit of our ancestors. Many of these ancestors, our children only know through stories. Those ancestors left a bit of themselves in this modern day, a bit their genetics exist in myself and in our children. Characteristics we thought long lost are found again when one of our offspring smiles or laughs a certain way, our kids have a turn about them that came from the past. The tangible pieces of Christmas décor our ancestors held in their hands are the same pieces still cherished today, serving to decorate our home in celebration of the Holy Birth of Jesus, traditions repeated from the past.
Traditions link the past to the present, even after 100 years, just as genetic traits from our ancestors are seen through our children keep us connected. We become the link connecting past to future, setting the traditions that follow. Our Christmas Tree is an eclectic ensemble of our past, each piece glimmering with a tale, passed from one generation to another.
The memories our children have of us will one day be shared with their children and grandchildren. Some tidbits of a story will be shared, a favored recipe or even a quirky ornament that I will be eagerly passed along. As time passes and memories are made, take time to recognize and share the goodness of life with your family, especially the next generation, there’s so much to be thankful for.
When we give the best of ourselves, we teach our children what it means to cherish. Leave a memory worthy of sharing through generations, even decades from now, our own parts of history will be retold, make it a good story. May the Blessings of Christmas follow you and your family throughout the years as you build your own Story Teller Tree.
Rhonda Baisden lives in Kenai and is blessed with three incredible children and a remarkable husband.
