A Christmas Tragedy
As mentioned earlier, tragedy struck our household on Saturday as we were decorating the Christmas tree. OK – tragedy might be a little strong. It was certainly traumatic. I had just spent several minutes talking to the kids about how they needed to be extra-careful with the ornaments because many of them are glass and they could easily break. I had to deliver said speech because they were grabbing two or three at a time and running over to the tree. It was almost like they were racing each other.
One of my favorite memories of decorating the tree with my parents is when Mom pulls out the ornaments that have been given to the family over the years. She talks about who the ornaments are from or what event the ornament commemorated. So every year, we’d essentially hear our family’s story and recall the people and events that have been important to us. Our Christmas tree were kind of like our own personal family museum – full of stories, memories, and inside jokes.
That tradition carries on with our family. We have many ornaments that have been given to us. We also have many that we’ve purchased during our travels across the country. Some have also been handed down to us. I have a few that are from my great-grandma’s tree. And I’d venture to say that they’re the most highly-prized ornaments we have because of their age and their beauty.
Every year, we pull out the three ornaments from my great-grandma and I’m extra-careful with them. I’ve tried to decide which one is my favorite, and I can’t. Some days, the Silent Night ornament is my favorite. Others, the Santa Claus one is. I guess it depends on my mood.
I took the first of the three remaining ornaments from my great-grandma and placed it towards the top of the tree. Bella still tends to play around the tree and I didn’t want to risk her knocking the ornament off the tree and breaking it. I’m certain that I secured the ornament on the branch, but I guess I didn’t secure it enough. I stepped back and saw the pink ball slide off the branch. I froze in horror, trying to decide whether to catch the ornament and risk breaking it myself, or hope that another branch breaks the fall. As I tried to decide, the ornament landed on a limb and then proceeded to roll down the tree. It would have been an amazing sight if it weren’t so highly-treasured and delicate. It rolled down the tree and landed in between a present and the wall, bursting into thousands of pieces.
Two large pieces remained intact, so I took a picture of them. Maybe someday we’ll be able to replicate this ornament. It will never have the same history as the one we lost this year, but it could still help ease some of the pain.
Of course, Christy came over to me after I managed to sweep up the pieces and forced myself to throw away the larger pieces and said, “That one was my favorite.”
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Sad! I am SO sentimental about things like that, and most especially our Christmas tree ornaments. Interestingly enough, I have that exact same “Silent Night” ornament from my grandmother! I have a few of them from her collection, and I do understand completely how special they are. I’m sorry that happened…