There is just something special about handmade Christmas ornaments. Putting them on the Christmas tree instantly evokes memories of not only previous Christmas holidays, but also the ancestor whose hands made the ornament. This is especially true if the ornament is designed in memory of a relative who has passed on. For the past 21 years, Crystal Wood has been making her family home made Christmas ornaments, out of items once used by their grandmother.
My family has some hand made Christmas ornaments that I would consider to be important heirlooms. They were all created by my grandmother. Every time I see these ornaments, I think about her. She created these ornaments because it was something she enjoyed doing, to pass the time. The ornaments were created from leftover craft supplies, and were not specifically designed with anyone in mind.
A woman named Crystal Wood has gone about this an entirely different way. She has been making hand made Christmas ornaments for her family for the past 21 years. Each ornament is designed with a specific person in mind – the family member she will give the ornament to when it is completed. Instead of using craft supplies, like my grandmother did, Crystal Wood has been using little odds and ends that were once used by her mother, Ada Wood, while her mother was still alive. The result is that every ornament is a small tribute, and memorial, to Ada. It’s easy to see how special these ornaments are to the family.
The ornaments were made from things like clothes pins, hair pins, canning rings, buttons, marbles, puzzle pieces, nails, pieces of quilt, beads, yarn, old Christmas cards, and even some spark plugs. These were items that Ada and Walter Wood used daily. The spark plugs were used as weights for the draperies. I can see where looking at these items would bring back memories of the grandparents who once used them. This is the kind of story that can inspire other people to start making their own, personalized, Christmas ornament heirlooms.
Image by Aidan Wojtas on Flickr