Monday, December 15, 2008

Ruby Tuesday Christmas: Ornaments On My Tree

For almost the past thirty-five years I have collected Hallmark Christmas ornaments. In those years I have probably collected between three and five hundred of them. Some were given by friends and family. In my previous home I had a cathedral ceiling in the living room and a twelve foot tree I decorated for many, many years. Now I have a smaller tree in my current home so most of the ornaments stay in storage. Right now my tree probably has about a hundred ornaments on it consisting of favorites from years gone by. I no longer collect them but did start a collection for my Granddaughter. Baby Lily is getting two for her first Christmas this year. One for baby's first Christmas and one for Granddaughter. So, the tradition continues! I hope you enjoy those I've chosen to share with you. All of them have a little red for this Ruby Tuesday Christmas!


These were the first ornaments for each of my children.
I love the little 'Ricola' man which is what I like to call him. The porcelain snowflake was from my son and his wife.
A little squirrel sitting on a Christmas cookie eating a cherry.
A Hershey's chocolate Santa. Doesn't he look like real chocolate?

Little mice playing the bells.
A family of penguins.

Please be sure to click on the badge at the top of my post and join other participants and their Ruby Tuesday Christmas posts.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the baby pram ornament :) How appropriate as their first X'mas ornaments..
Happy Ruby Tuesday!!!

Unknown said...

ohmygosh! i suddenly miss those Hallmark Keepsake ornaments i used to work on! they are certainly worth keeping.

EG CameraGirl said...

Nice idea to start your granddaughter's collection from year one. When she's a grownup, she'll think of you every time she decorates her tree!

Anonymous said...

thy are so cute, Carletta. The chipmunk caught my attention though i love the Santa one too. :)

happy red day!

Jamie {See Jamie blog} said...

Cute ornaments. I like the Ricola Santa, too!

judi/Gmj said...

So sweet, memories to pull out and treasure. Lovely.

George Townboy said...

The best post ever.

Jan said...

Wonderful photos of your collection. Happy Ruby Tuesday to you.

Becky said...

I love ornaments and I could easily collect hundreds of them. Yours are so cute.

Shelly said...

The baby carriage is so cute! That is so sweet of you to start a collection for her.
I quit buying the Hallmark ornaments too. We seem to follow some of the same paths my dear. I just remembered you always post your Ruby Tuesday's early so thought I would see what's ruby today...hehe.

eastcoastlife said...

You have a large collection of Hallmark Christmas ornaments! That would have cost you a lot too.

MyMaracas said...

Adorable! I collect one for each of my kids each year, and I try to make the ornament reflect a milestone or an interest they had that year. Usually they're Hallmarks, but sometimes from other makers. When they have homes of their own they can take their ornaments with them, as a kind of album of their childhoods. It's nice to see you're doing the same. I think we may be kindred spirits.

Felisol said...

I've never even heard about hallmark before.
My absolute favorite is the "boy in the bubble."
How neatly in the tiny details.
I could easily have paid good money for that one.
From Felisol

Dora said...

The X'mas ornaments in the 1st pic are so cute! Oops, i initially thought that is a real choco Santa and wanted to ask u why u put in on the tree instead of giving it to me to eat. Ha ha.

Merry X'mas to U and ur family. Cheers!

Christmas at Shopping Mall

Rose said...

I LOVE Christmas ornaments...I bet you had fun when you had the big tree!

Gattina said...

What a cute selection of ornaments !

This year I bought all new because we have the smallest tree we ever had, it's not bigger than Arthur ! so I had to buy very very tiny things to hang on it.
We celebrate in Amsterdam so it wasn't worthwhile to put up a big tree !

Anonymous said...

I like your Christmas ornaments. Traditions are wonderful things to share. Someday Lily will be showing her ornaments to someone and explaining that they came from her grandmother.

Anonymous said...

Nice collection! Thanks for sharing.

KOSTAS said...

Very festive post, marvellously decoration!
Congratulations!

Jientje said...

That is such a great tradition, collecting decorations for your grandchildren!! I must remember that when I become a grandmother! Maybe someday, who knows?
You have some great decorations there, lovely!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Carletta: What a neat look at your favorite ornaments, they do tell a story.

Neal said...

They are beautiful. We buy our daughter a new one every year. We let her pick it out and it's normally a dog or animal of some sort.

♥peachkins♥ said...

lovely Christmas decors..

thanks for visiting and happy RT!

Twisted Fencepost said...

Adorable little ornaments, Carletta.
I also have many that stay in storage. Some day I'll have a big house with several trees to decorate. Right now I have a small house, but we still decorate a big tree and two small ones.

Anonymous said...

I must say this is a great idea.
As someone said, I think your grandaughter will fully enjoy all the memories and each piece of life she had with you.
The chipmunk is great!
Oh, and thank you for always finding me on blogworld :)

Anonymous said...

Love your ornaments with its touches of red.

Paz

Melli said...

Awwwww... they are all so cute - and so special. I'm so sad because I used to collect (not Hallmark - well, SOME Hallmark) ornaments for Amanda... I had something dated from the year she was born and for each year after. When she got married and moved out, I boxed them up and shipped them to her for her first Christmas tree. She lost them. Broke my heart... You were smart to hang on to all of yours - they are your memories.

Ralph said...

I enjoy having a melange of ornaments on the tree - not a theme, but full of different themes. Like CVS Santas, a Hershey's Kiss ornament, and school decorations from when our kids were little. A tree made of the best memories!

maryt/theteach said...

Carletta, aren't those just the best and cutest! I bet you love looking at them all. I hope you change off every year and take some out of storage... Happy Ruby Tuesday! :)

Raven said...

I love the idea of an ornament for each year. These are all so cute. The chocolate Santa really does look real... and I have a soft spot in my heart for squirrels, so the ricola man (does look like a cough drop) gets my vote... I also have a soft spot for penguins. I think they are my favorites. Think I'm skipping Ruby Tuesday this week but I may see if I can get my act together later and post something late.

Janice Thomson said...

A Christmas tree full of memories - how lovely Carletta!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty ornaments to collect ! thanks for sharing. Great that the tradition continues !

Dianne said...

I love the baby buggy and the penguins are so delightful!!

I too have to decide who comes out and who stays in - my tree is much smaller than it used to be.

MaR said...

The baby pram is too cute!! Love all your ornaments, what a collection.
Have a wonderful Tuesday, all in ruby.

Judith said...

what a fabulous collection - must take you ages to put them all out? ornaments are much nicer when bought for you by someone else then they hold memories.

Babs (Beetle) said...

Very pretty tree ornaments :O)

Pia K said...

My favourites are the penguin family, cuties they are! And a lovely sentiment in collecting them for your granddaughter.

Anonymous said...

nice ornaments! i have an ornament too for RT with an extra!:)

Sherrie said...

Hi!
Those are beautiful ornaments!!! Nice that you are keeping the tradition with your grandchildren. Thanks for stopping by my place.

Sherrie

Haley H said...

I love ornaments that have memories attached. My tree is full of them. Every year as I decorate the tree, I choose different ornaments from my collection, depending on my mood.

I'm sure your granddaughter will enjoy the tradition too. They'll be something special of hers to put on the family tree every year.

storyteller said...

What a lovely collection of ornaments. Your tree looks so festive!
Hugs and blessings,

Minkydo said...

So adorable! I love the penguin family.

Anonymous said...

What cute ornaments! :-)