When I was growing up, my family had a fun Christmas tradition. Every year the five of us would go into town a day or so before we got our tree, and we'd each pick out one new Christmas ornament. Then each year as we decorated the tree, ornaments would call to mind the different places we had lived, and the different choices each family member had made.
Here's my choice for the year 1956 (I have of course catalogued all the ornaments). The next year I chose a snowman in similar style, but alas, he has not survived.
Here's my choice in 1959. It's a paper-maché ball made in West Germany. I find it rather alarming these days to see the same exact thing in antique stores!
1962 was a little different. I may have found a store-bought ornament, but I also made this one from a real egg. The gold florals are authentic die-cut scraps that came from a mail order place called the Brandon Company. It was a business that grew out of the discovery of a whole inventory of Victorian scraps in a barn! (I spent a lot of allowance money ordering from the Brandon Company.)
My ornament for 1976 was this replica of an antique grape cluster (or is it a pine cone?). It's more than 25 years old by now, so it might be an antique in its own right.
In 1979, I bought this delightful glass gyroscope at a favorite antique store in Pittsburgh. I'll be sharing more ornaments later in upcoming posts.
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