Old World Charm Christmas Tree

Old world, vintage, old fashioned, antique… there are several ways you could describe the theme of my Christmas tree. I have two decorated trees in my home this year. When you combine a person who loves Christmas with a person who is extremely sentimental, what do you get? Too many ornaments! Of course, someone like me will never admit there really can be too many ornaments.

At the end of this post, you will see the links and descriptions to a few of my blogger-friends’ Christmas tree posts. Every one has a different theme, and it’s fun to see the original and unique styles that we have all chosen.

family ornaments

I have three sons, ages 20, 23 and 25, and from birth, my husband and I bought each of them a new ornament each year. We usually tried to tie the ornament to a big event that happened to them during that year. For instance, when one of them learned to drive, we got him an ornament that looked like a driver’s license. When one of them got his first job at a pizza place, his ornament was a glass slice of pizza. You get the idea. Our oldest son got married this year, so we gave them the 25 ornaments that we had accumulated over each year of his life, and now he and his wife have a nice collection of ornaments to start decorating their first tree with.

vacation ornaments

Another ornament tradition is that my husband and I buy an ornament each time we go on vacation somewhere. Could I be diagnosed as an ornament hoarder? Yeah, probably. But there are worse addictions to have, so please don’t judge me too harshly.

vintage glass ornaments

I haven’t even started telling you about the tree that I am featuring – my Old-World Charm Christmas Tree. There’s a large-ish sized box at our house labeled “Mom’s Glass Ornaments”. I love all my ornaments, but this box contains the ones that are extra special to me. Many of these ornaments are very old. In fact, there are four ornaments in there that my mom had since she was a child, and they mean even more to me now that my mom is no longer here, celebrating with us.

When our third son was born, in 2001, my husband took the three little boys to a beautiful store that sold gorgeous glass ornaments. I always imagine how stressful that little shopping trip must have been for him, with our boys who were 9 months, 3 years, and 5 years old. He let them each choose an ornament for me. Our 3-year-old chose a little glass beer mug that looked like it had beer suds spilling down the side. He chose that one because he thought it was root beer, and I’ve always thought that was adorable.

 

Special Ornaments

Also in this box, I had a few ornaments that I’d had since my childhood and some that friends had given me in my teen years. One of my favorites is a round, glass ornament that my son painted when he was in kindergarten. Each ornament has a story, so I dedicated an entire tree to these beautiful, glass ornaments, and I decided that I wanted to feature this tree in my blog. I even bought a long strand of faux pearls because I know they were often used on Christmas trees back in the old days. And, at the base of our tree is the tree skirt that my mom made for me many years ago, as she had made one for each of her four children.

ornament disaster strikes!

So, this is where my Christmas tree story takes a sharp left turn. Since we have two Christmas trees up this year, we decided to put one tree in our family room, in a corner between the sofa and a chair. My vintage themed tree is near the entryway, by the archway leading into the dining room. One afternoon last week, I heard the doorbell ring and figured it was Amazon, because it’s almost always Amazon! This time it wasn’t, though. It was a gentleman who does some landscaping for us and he needed to talk to me. As I reached the door, my dogs, as usual, were barking very loudly. My hand was on the doorknob when I heard it. CRASH. I turned around to find that my tree was on the ground and there was glass everywhere.

I knew the first thing I had to do was get my dogs into a bedroom and close the door so that they didn’t cut their paws. The next thing I had to do was answer the door. Now, I want to remind you that this landscaper did nothing wrong, he simply rang my doorbell. However, he heard the big crash, and when I opened the door he said, “I hope nothing broke.”. When I’m standing in my doorway, with a Christmas tree on the floor right behind me and broken glass everywhere, it just seemed like the four most ridiculous words a person could have said to me! And I’m not a violent person, but it was hard to smile when I really felt like punching him in the face. I didn’t! But I wanted to.

A little time for self-pity

Anyway, when I finished up at my door and turned around to assess the damages, I could see there were not many survivors on that tree. I picked up some of the largest pieces to start, and then I got the broom. After this, I got out the vacuum cleaner and just kept going over and over the area, to be sure that I was getting up every little shard of glass. The whole time, I was sobbing hysterically.

 For me, Christmastime is a little bit bittersweet. Mostly sweet, but it kind of puts a spotlight on the people who are no longer with us. And a small part of me mourns the days when my kids were little, and we had the magic of Santa swirling around. Looking at this large pile of broken ornaments, I suddenly felt the sense of loss because these pieces of glass represented memories. I know that I have hundreds of other things in my home that carry memories, and these ornaments are just material items. In the grand scheme of things, this was such an insignificant event. I never lost sight of that, but it was a loss that took a little time to process.

look on the bright side

When my husband and kids were told what had happened (because I sent them all of picture of the damage), they knew what those ornaments represented to me and all of them sent me the sweetest and most sympathetic texts. The next day was my husband’s day off work, so he took me to a cute, nearby town that has several antique stores and bought me new “old” ornaments to adorn the tree. He wanted to make sure I still had a vintage tree to write my post about.

This blog post went in an entirely different direction than I had originally planned for it to go, but the support from my family meant the world to me. I also gained a new level of sympathy for people who lose literally everything in fires or floods or hurricanes or any other type of genuine disasters because I can see that even the smallest of material things can mean so much. Ornaments are more than a decoration for me, they are a link to past memories and reminders of years of celebrations.

dogs for sale

The important information that I need to share with you is that despite the trouble they get into and the work that they cause, I still love my dogs. For about three hours that day I wanted to send them to another planet, but I try to remind myself that they were trying to protect me from a possible threat, and they were trying to get to the door in a hurry. We moved the location of the Christmas tree. And the two culprits, Hank (a yellow lab) and Whisky (a tree-walker coonhound), will very likely get coal in their stockings this year.

My future ornaments

Time will go by, and I will collect more glass ornaments that will, undoubtedly, become sentimental to me for one reason or another. But, one day, when I’m gone and my kids or grandkids break one of my old ornaments, I really hope they won’t shed a tear for the ornament. I know that my mom would never want me to feel bad about breaking the ornaments that she’d had for years. I’m so lucky that I have many meaningful items that were my mom’s, and due to my excessively large collection, I have more than enough ornaments to hand down to everyone in my family!

Christmas Tree Theme Collaboration – Take a look at the other trees!

I hope you enjoy the pictures of my Christmas ornaments and tree. I’m very excited because I’m new at blogging, and I had the privilege to collaborate with some other amazing bloggers. I hope you will also take a look at the beautiful pictures and stories of these other Christmas tree posts. I am including links to their blog posts, and you can also click on the pictures of their trees to take you to their websites. Thank you to these talented women for sharing their Christmas trees with us!

keeperofourhome.com

Suani from Keeperofourhome.com shares about living a simple and slow lifestyle with a focus on faith, family, and keeping a home. Decorating a memory filled sentimental Christmas tree with handed down heirloom and handmade ornaments. https://www.keeperofourhome.com/beautiful-christmas-tree-decorating-ideas/

kowalskimountain.com

Barbra-Sue from www.kowalskimountain.com and her husband, Philip, own 68 acres in Western Kentucky where they are building a homestead. They recently sold their home in Florida and are living in their RV. They are in the beginning process of building a log home from the timber harvested on the property. Since their household goods are in storage, Barbra-Sue used items on hand to create an Old-Fashioned Christmas tree full of country charm. A snow-covered mini tree perfectly fits their tiny home but still brings Christmas cheer this holiday season. https://www.kowalskimountain.com/old-fashioned-christmas-tree/

oursimplegraces.com

Hollyn from oursimplegraces.com is a mom of three, ages 3 and under, and a military wife. She enjoys cooking from scratch meals and finding ways to live a more natural and healthy life while finding joy in the everyday moments. Her Christmas Tree is filled with simple DIY crafted ornaments. These DIY ornaments are great to do with kids, girlfriends or your spouse while you’ve got a cozy Christmas movie on. Plus, if you’ve got toddlers running around like her, you won’t mind them playing with these ornaments! https://oursimplegraces.com/diy-christmas-ornaments-simple-and-charming/

myjourneytogreen.com

Ada from myjourneytogreen.com is a mom and wife, always looking for a more natural and simple way of living. A journey filled with eco-friendly ideas, urban gardening tips, DIY, healthy recipes, and more. Her eco-friendly Christmas tree ornaments are beautiful, fun to make, and made with natural or recycled materials. This is the perfect holiday craft that the entire family will enjoy. https://www.myjourneytogreen.com/easy-to-make-eco-friendly-christmas-tree-ornaments/

modwife.net

Angela at the blog modwife.net loves to create and make. Seeing beauty in everything around her and trying to embrace all life has to offer. Currently she is traveling full-time in an RV with her family of 5 and 1 dog searching for their own homestead and old home to renovate. Living simply but not simple is her goal. Check out her tiny home Christmas tree with 5 simple Christmas ornaments anyone can incorporate to elevate any Christmas tree.

https://www.modwife.net/5-simple-ornament-ideas-to-elevate-your-christmas-tree/

Thanks for stopping by my website. I hope you will take some time this week to celebrate the small things in your home that bring you joy, especially during the holidays! If you enjoyed seeing these Christmas trees and reading the post, please click on one of the links below to share on your social media.

Xoxo Teresa