Family heirloom decorations

[Arch]

I'll be heading back to Mum's tomorrow, and hope to be decorating the tree, possibly helped by a 4 year old nephew. Many of our Christmas decorations are almost as old as me (some actually older, having belonged to Grandma), and some are particularly unique:

Our Star for the top of the tree was homemade by Dad, when I was 1. It's a foil covered cardboard star, mounted on a larger dark blue cardboard star, with a bit of wire sellotaped to the back. When I was little, money was so tight, home made was all we had.

Also home made from that era, some little hanging parcels, matchboxes covered in pretty paper. One is covered in a sort of gold foil covered paper - the inside of a box of Benson and Hedges. It's even got the red B and H motif from the box stuck on for decoration.

Our 'fairy' is a little Dutch peg doll, a present from our landlady when I was a kid. She wears a dress and headscarf and holds a bunch of tulips. Peeping out from under her headscarf is hair - real hair!

A box of 24 mini baubles - little glass balls about a cm in diameter. Well, there were 24 to start with, the number dwindles very gradually - about 12 or 14 now I think. We've had them for as long as I remember. They came from Woolworths, and still go back into the original box each year.

Finally Lametta. Of course each year a few strands get left on the tree, or lost. I think there are about 5 strands of the original crimped style I remember from 40 or so Christmasses, in amongst the more modern stuff.

Nephew Oli (4) made his Mum ring Grandma to check if there was going to be a tree, and when told that there was, said "Good, I'm going to make decorations". I hope they last for 40 years too.

Anyone else got decorations laden with memories?

 

[Noodley]

We have a lion for the top of our tree, but seem to have lost it this year...but we'll find it again.

And we can't forget my grandad's old sacks...

 

[Maz]

Although I don't celebrate Christmas, I had to push everyone in the office to at least make an effort to put some decorations up, tinsel, tree, etc. Took some effort, but we did manage it. I'd never had a xmas tree before, but this year there was a small one on my desk with a red flashing LED atop it, taken off the bike. I will treasure it.

 

[User10119]

I didn't win any of the decorations, so had none at all this year. But my sister is only having the one 8-footer tree this year, she isn't bothering with the 'little' one, so has lent me the wooden decorations that I bought her for a christmas present nearly 20 years ago together with the last remaining handful of wooden ones that she inherited from our granny that my mum bought in Austria over 50 years ago. Combined with the Cubs' choice of shiny new from B&Q, I think it looks surprisingly stylish!

Of course, my sister's tree (at mum and dad's house) is a bit more impressive. And has the last of the original decorations bought by my paternal grandmother for my parents' first christmas as a married couple - including the last remaining glass king and the fuzzy yellow lion. And hundreds of beautiful handmade decorations my sister has made over the years. And assorted wobbly creations made by us four as kids, and by the four grandchildren. And the ones made by my ex Mother-in-Common-Law with people's names on, and to celebrate the first Christmases of my boys. And the little fabric cones tied on with ribbon and filled with chocolate coins. It ends up in layers - glass at the top, chocolate in the middle (where boys can reach but dogs can't) and cloth ones at the bottom since they probably won't get broken by cats/dogs/toddlers.

I just hope that the EldestCub's decorations that his (now dead) Great Granny Isobel bought for him each year for his Christmas present are safe, somewhere!

(ETA - please forgive the purple walls. They will change. Eventually.)

 

[Night Train]

I don't believe in the mindless slaughter of trees for a Victorian fad.
I'd prefer decorating a living tree outoors and have done in the past but not recently. We do occasionally bring out an 18" tall fibre optic tree but haven't decorated the house for over 15 years.

 

[Arch]

That's a lovely tree CL! Congratulations to you and the Cubs.

I always look at the stylish single colour arrangements and think 'how nice', but when it comes to it, our tree always has all sorts of colours and styles on it. Nothing important can be left off, you see.

St Nicks hired a tree from the The Balloon Tree (or was it the Farmer's Cart?) last year and they never came to pick it up after Christmas, so it got planted, and it's been brought back in this year. The volunteers have made a range of 'eco' decorations - paperchains, dried fruit slices, and some rather nice little 'bells' made from upturned tealight cases.

Mum's tree is a rather good artificial one, quite realistic, but without the slaughter....

 

[sunnyjim]

The familiarity of the same old decorations - with maybe just an odd one added each year as another glass ball shattered or faded paper strings tore once too often - brought down from the attic was one of the nice christmassy things of childhood . Somewhere in the cellar there's a string of 20V lights - extended to 14 to make the bulbs last longer. 240v mains = 12*20 in series, so live 240V live mains on each of the screw-in holders. No namby pamby safety nonsense -children were expected to keep their little fingers to themselves.
The current 'tree' is a mixture of evergreen yew/fir/cupressus/holly/cotoneaster/ivy from the garden adorned with curly aluminium swarf from the workshop.

 

[Brains]

I still have all the Christmas tree candle holders, I believe bought back by my great great grandmother from southern Germany in around the 1890's.
I suggest we put them on the tree every year but my wife won't hear of it due to the fire risk, but they were in use (all be it very briefly as my mother had the same opinion as my wife) into the 1970's