Every Christmas since I was born, (except, apparently 1983) I have received at least one Hallmark Christmas ornament. It is tradition, and it's one I hold close to my heart. It's almost to the point of obsession.
Three or four years ago, a few days before Christmas, my mom happened to comment that she had not purchased Hallmark ornaments that year because she and John had gotten us some cute ones when they visited Leavenworth. It shocked me how disappointed I was, and how immediately the feeling hit me. I hung up the phone, and found myself near tears.
Over an ornament. Or, more appropriately, over a lack of an ornament.
I called my mom back and told her how I felt. That I didn't know why I felt so strongly about it, but I did. I told her that I didn't particularly care which ornaments she got in addition to Hallmark, but that I wanted a Hallmark ornament, too. She acquiesced, and has continued still.
J and I haven't even put up a tree for the last four Christmases, but I love getting those ornaments every year.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an ornament snob, exactly. I love all Christmas ornaments. When I put up a tree, I put them all up, no matter where they came from. But it's tradition to get a Hallmark ornament from my mom every year, and I don't want that to stop.
In addition to being a nice record of time passed, when I moved out of the house my mom gave me a box with all my ornaments in it. I was only 22, but I already had a lot of ornaments of my own...Mom didn't have to give up any of hers to supplement my collection. Some people like the plain round ball ornaments, but I don't love them. I want my tree to have more personality. I was thrilled to death that J and I had enough ornaments between us that we didn't have to buy generic ornaments to fill in the tree. We did buy some small red and silver balls, but didn't use them all. And we had a 6 foot tree.
Even before we got married, I started giving J Hallmark ornaments at Christmas, but it was sporadic. I didn't give him one every year. Once we got hitched officially, though, I got deliberate about it. In addition to whatever my mom gives him / us, I give J at least one Hallmark ornament each year. He doesn't care about this stuff as much as I do, but I think it will be cool for our kids or our grandkids to have those ornaments one day. When we have kids, they will be getting Hallmark ornaments for sure.
It's horribly morbid to think about your parent's demise, but when I think about my mom's belongings, and what makes me think of her, her Hallmark ornament collection is the forerunner. Her wedding ring and some cement planters that used to be my grandma's are on the list, too, but the Hallmark ornaments are near the top. I'm sure my sisters will want some, too, but I definitely will get some of them!
But I digress.
Because we haven't put up a tree for a long time, we haven't bothered to pull all of our ornaments down from the attic in the garage. I've just taken whatever new Christmas decoration stuff we get and put it in shoe boxes and then stacked them on J's workbench in the garage.
This year I decided I wanted to take them all down, and photograph each and every single ornament. I'm not really sure why. It's sorta crazy.
It's really crazy.
But I did it. Well, to be exact, J climbed up into the creepy attic and handed down plastic storage bin after plastic storage bin. I carried them into the house and then got to work. I charged the batteries for my camera (I have two so that I never have to stop taking pictures while the other one charges - it's one of the best purchases I ever made), grabbed a white towel to use as a neutral background, and then got to work. It took me almost all of yesterday, and most of today, but I did it! I have created a list of every Hallmark ornament I own (plus the few that J owns and the few that were given to us as a couple), and taken pictures of literally every single ornament, Hallmark or not. Turns out we own 73 Hallmark ornaments and countless other types. Of the 73 Hallmarks, J owns 10...and we share about 8...I told you I had a lot...
Here are a few of my favorite Hallmark ornaments over the years. Remember, I have tons...I love them all, but these are a few that stand out.
This is the very first ornament I ever got.
Coincidentally, J got a Hallmark ornament his very first Christmas, too! He didn't get another, though, until I started giving them to him 23 years later! This one was from his great-grandma on his dad's side.
And this is the first one I gave J in 1998. We had been dating for a year.
I don't love this one, but the year we got married it was the ONLY "Our first Christmas" ornament at Hallmark.
This one reminds me of Easter. Santa at Easter?? It's not really Easter. It's called "Woodland Friends" and I love it, regardless.
This is the ornament I got this year. It is from "A Christmas Story." Remember that movie? I remember watching it as a kid, over and over and over again with my sisters.
This is my all-time favorite ornament. I don't really know why. Perhaps it's because nobody else in my family has it? T was born in 1979 so hers is a baby's first Christmas ornament. It's pretty, and it's my favorite.
Just to prove I am not an ornament snob, here are some of my favorite non-Hallmark ornaments. We have tons of these, too. Interestingly, I find that the ones I like the best are the handmade or unique ones. I have lots of "generic" Santas and snowmen, etc. that are super cute, but these are my favorites.
This came from J's grandma. She made it for me. I LOVE the all white / silver look. It's so elegant!
She made this one, too!
Hmm...apparently J's grandma and grandad have fantastic taste in ornaments, because this one also came from them. Grandma did not make this one, though! It opens up like a little box! It's so cute. J has a red one with white reindeer on it. I got online today and found a bunch more of these. I'm considering ordering a bunch to give away to people next year. I know that I'll end up keeping them to myself, though, so I'll have to think it through before I make the purchase...
This is the cute one from Leavenworth that threatened the Hallmark ornament collection a few years ago. I can't hold it against her, though...she's divine!
I imagine when I have kids, I will like the homemade ones best, but regardless, I think this Hallmark tradition is here to stay.
3 comments:
My mom gets me Hallmark ornaments every year too. Always the Barbie on since I was such a Barbie freak when I was a kid. Also the Gone With the Wind, my favourite movie.
For the girls she always picks up whatever they're into that year. For Maya it was the Little Einsteins Rocket. She actually takes it to bed with her each night. I'm not sure I'm going to get it packed away with the Christmas stuff this year. For Abby it was Barbie's Diamond Castle and a tree made out of high heeled shoes. She diva that she is.
For Mike she periodically gets him the Tonka ornament. It's not all that interested in them. Well he says that, but when we're decorating the tree he looks for those ones first.
My mom always got us an ornament each year as well. They weren't always Hallmark though. For a few years, I was obsessed with anything and everything unicorn, and so for a few years, my ornaments were from wherever my mom could find something cute that was unicorn related. I think I have five unicorn ones (one of them is teeny tiny and has Santa riding on it's back...LOL FROM HALLMARK!!). Then came a Tigger phase and the ornaments came from wherever there was one that caught my mom's eye. There were a few years where we picked out our own ornaments, but since I've moved out, she's bought me Hallmark. For four years there was a GORGEOUS flower fairy series and although it's been done for 9 or 10 years, I'm still extremely disappointed the artist didn't continue the series. After that series ended, she started me on a Santa series. The Santas are darling and every year I think this must be the last year because what else can they come up with for Santa to be doing, but it's in the 9th or 10th year now. Because it's been such a long series, my tree almost takes on a Santa theme, but with unicorns and tiggers and randomness from MY childhood, and the super heros and barbies and ballerina and whatnot of my CHILDREN'S childhood, I'd say it all spreads out into a nice miss-mash of ornaments. There's something to be said about the themed trees with the matchy matchy balls and ribbons, etc, but I LOVE my tree with a story behind each ornament.
My mom gets the kids ornaments every year as well, so they each get at least two. My tree is already pretty full. LOL I joked with Dan we may need two trees starting next year (two big trees, in addition to the little one the kids decorate). He didn't think it was very funny. I think I may just keep most of my old ones boxed up and stick with my newer ones and the kids' ornaments, and my older ones can come back out once the kids have moved out and taken theirs with them.
Oh, and Dan has never recieved an ornament in his life (so he says, I never double-checked that with his parents). My mom has given him a few. One was a black lab ornament like our dog, another was a jukebox that plays Elvis' "blue christmas" with Elvis pictured on the front (one of Em's favorite ornaments!! LOL), and the other one I can think of is a glass football with a Steelers emblem on the front. He doesn't care a lick about ornaments, doesn't understand AT ALL why they mean so much to me, but I think it's sweet my mom put thought into picking something out for him.
I think it's funny (in a cute way) that you have to have something from Hallmark each year. I honestly don't care where it's from, as long as I get one! Like you said, it's a nice tradition, and once the Santa series is done, I'll be interested in seeing what my mom comes up with for me...
I love this posting.
I too have a soft spot for ornaments and try my hardest to get the kids an ornament every year. Not always Hallmark though :(
My ornament kid box had a very sad and heartbreaking demise about 8 years ago. I'm still recovering so living through the kids works for me!! :)
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