Comments on: Some Christmas Baubles

By: Donna MacArthur

Donna MacArthur — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 01:21:18 +0000

Hi there, gentle author, preserver of Christmas magic,
A friend from British Columbia shared your site with me, knowing that I, also a bauble lover, would appreciate it.
I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I have been saving / collecting old Christmas baubles for most of my life. The first ornaments I fell in love with were those of the Christmas trees of my childhood (1950s era). My mum had brought some of her own mother’s treasured ornaments to our Island with her from Nova Scotia, and those which survived the decades of use in our house became mine when I grew up and had a home of my own.
My collection grew gradually as I sought out more of these fragile treasures in thrift stores and flea markets through my travels in eastern Canada and the New England States. Then, a windfall came my way when a very elderly friend (also a treasure) allowed me to ‘clean out’ her attic, in her small cottage home in Kingsville, Ontario. There were boxes containing some of the oldest baubles I’d ever seen, covered in dust (some had disintegrated with age), which my old friend’s parents had brought to Canada when emigrating from England in 1905.
I bring all of my vintage baubles out of their cozy bins once a year. I look forward, with warm anticipation, to our annual visits. I tenderly lift each one out of its comfy ‘nest’ and find just the right place for it on my Christmas tree. And I consider, yet again: where it came from, how many respective hands have held it carefully, and eyes beheld it appreciatively. I realize, too, that I am honoured to be the one now holding these beautiful creations.
Although I have more than enough baubles to amply cover my Christmas tree, regardless of its size, I am never through searching. A ‘good find’ still gives me a great adrenaline rush – and the magic continues!

By: Valerie Paynter

Valerie Paynter — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 22:02:21 +0000

My treasured stock of tree decorations were mostly harvested after my Granny died and I was no longer spending Christmas in Sussex (she did no tree). Harrods had an annual room FULL of cheap and fabulous east European-derived glass shapes and balls in the last half of the 1970’s and Nice Irma’s Floating Carpet had the first of the mosaic mirror glass balls – all handmade with the glass pushed into the clay in diamond formation. So fine. Heals had articulated clowns like puppets…. I now wonder what, if any, of the tree decorations I can still remember from my childhood may have been kept by my mother…. Back in the 1950’s in Canada the candle shaped lights on our tree were fluid-filled and bubbled up when they were on. But it was the painted stripes on clear glass that most captivated my eye and memory. Magic. The photo of stripey balls here are like the ones I bought in John Lewis back in the 1970’s…

They are treasures mementoes of Christmas’s past and should be kept and handed down to family to bring out every year and I always feel such joy seeing them all over again….year in, year out.

By: Achim

Achim — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 11:56:36 +0000

Wonderful first bicycle! I “only” have still my beloved Teddy Bear!
Merry and Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 23:44:11 +0000

Lovely memories.
Did you have any of those glass birds with glass fibre tails?
All of ours are sadly gone.
Merry Christmas.
Sue.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 22:48:14 +0000

I always enjoy your posts, and this one was no exception. Particularly love your moon & stars bauble! Merry Christmas to you

By: Joan

Joan — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 19:31:36 +0000

Fragile things. How amazing you have preserved them, and loved them for so long. Memories of Christmases past and more to come.

By: gkbowood

gkbowood — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 17:32:58 +0000

We have that same 9 o’clock!
My Mother loved these glass ornaments and I have several boxes worth. Unfortunately, 6 indoor cats (that’s right- 6 so no judging comments readers!) have prevented me from putting up a tree EVER!! I really miss having a tree and have begun looking at our shaggy Arizona Cypress outside the window with illuminating contemplations!!
Best of Holiday Happiness to you and Mr P.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 14:13:10 +0000

lovely post. Many thanks for all the others and a very Merry Christmas.

By: Katya

Katya — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 13:17:52 +0000

Gentle Author, what a small world it can be! I’m pretty sure the ornament shop on Greenwich Ave., in Greenwich Village, New York, is the one where I, too, bought the same silver and blue moon ornament, many years ago. The shop is just down the street from The Elephant And Castle restaurant, where you may have also gone, perhaps to remind yourself of home?
Your post evoked many memories for me of a warm fire on Christmas Eve, before which my siblings and I decorated our tree with the many fragile and sparkling glass ornaments my father had miraculously preserved from his German childhood. In true European fashion, we were even given mugs of eggnog, spiked with minute, child-sized splashes of Kirschwasser, which no doubt furthered our dreams along, now that I think about it…
May you have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for your inspiring daily posts!

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 13:08:56 +0000

Christmas greetings from Boston,

GA, what a great piece. As said above, you sure can evoke memories. Mine is of one unassuming ornament that I treasured above all and sought immediately when we “did the tree” when I was a youngster.

It was small – about 2 ½ inches in circumference, about 1 inch in depth, so rather flat. Silver with a raised red star in the middle. Not sure if I am giving an accurate picture, but I still see it in my mind. Long gone, but not forgotten.

GA, with every good wish for the New Year and beyond. I look forward to your pieces to start my day in 2017.