My Favorite Ornament

Today's bit of advice? You guessed it. "Tell someone about your favorite ornament." (Well, come on, what else would it be?)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have one favorite ornament. I love any ornament that has a history to it. Like the paper angels Craig and I made in elementary school out of oak tag and our faces cut out of photographs. (Craig chose a not-so-well-proportioned picture so his head is a huge bulbous thing on a tiny paper cone with wings. But of course his head always was a huge bulbous thing until his body caught up a few years ago.)

I also love the strange little ultra-suede and plastic beaded boot that Dad got for one of us on a business trip to Arizona or New Mexico. I love the various Peanuts characters ornaments we have and even the old scratched-up metallic balls. Our tree never matches, there's no color theme, and there aren't even enough branches anymore to hold all the ornaments we've accumulated over the years.

But catching sight of any single ornament that does make it on to the tree means remembering a whole different story. Maybe it's cheesy but that's the best part of Christmas. You can be sappy and nostalgic for a whole month (or longer if you choose) and nobody gets to stop you.