Some Favorite Christmas Ornaments

Hello again!  I've been trying to get the house all decorated so I can share here on the blog, but it takes awhile.  I should have some pictures to show in a few days.  In the meantime, these are some pics we took last year during the holiday.

Above is an ornament we purchased at Biltmore Estate on our first visit in 2015.  I just love all the pretty detail on this ornament, especially the starry sky in the background.  

My mom gave us this ornament with the snowman picture in 1997; it was painted and signed by a local artist.

We have five of these hand-painted, blown-glass ornaments like the Santa Claus above and they're so special to me.  We got them many years ago at the Craftsmen's Classic Christmas Show in Greensboro, N.C.  This show is held every Thanksgiving weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum Annex, and we started going there almost thirty years ago when we were first married and lived in Greensboro.  These ornaments are so pretty, and I'll share the others in another post.

Our son gave us these darling Minnie and Mickey Mouse ornaments last Christmas.  He purchased them in February of 2016 when he visited Disneyworld with some friends.  I just love these!  :)

How do you like this cute guy?  I found this felted wool mouse at a local gift shop last year.  He has a real acorn cap for his little "hat."

Our parents used to always bring us a Christmas ornament from their travels, and I especially treasure these.  Hal's mom brought us this little guy from London many years ago.  He's a Yeoman Warder, or Yeoman of the Guard at the Tower of London.  I've got a small collection of these fabric ornaments, and I just love them.  They're so beautifully made.

Another fabric ornament, brought to us from Disneyworld by my parents.

This one is a special favorite; Hal brought it to me from England one year when he had to travel there in December.  My picture doesn't do it justice, but it really is beautiful.

There are two favorite ornaments in this picture.  See the little boy sitting on the crescent moon in the middle of the picture?  That's a painted wooden ornament, and my mother-in-law brought it to us from Austria when they visited almost 30 years ago.  The bell with shamrocks in the foreground is a Royal Tara porcelain bell ornament, and Hal and I got this when we were in Ireland together in 1999.

Another ornament from Ireland, brought to me one Christmas by Hal.

The Old World stocking ornament with the red ribbon came from Waterford, Ireland, brought to us by Hal's parents. 

The man with the tea set is another painted, wooden ornament.  It was made in Russia, and my in-laws purchased it when they were in Alaska.

Another hand-painted glass ball, this is a picture of Houmas House, a plantation house in Louisiana.  You can see the live oak trees with their Spanish moss, and the lady in her southern belle dress.  My parents brought us this ornament.

In the center of this photo is a blown-glass Nativity ornament, which my parents brought to us from Charleston, South Carolina.  Also, if you look to the left of the little nativity ornament, he's a little blurry, but that's a Scottish Terrier playing the bagpipes.  Love this guy!  He's an old-world style ornament and so sparkly and colorful.  Hal and I got it at the Christmas shop in Southport.  For some reason we seem to have a lot of Scottie ornaments.  😉

This little angel is also from Charleston.  She's made of sweetgrass, like the sweetgrass baskets made by the ladies of Charleston.

These are some of my favorite Christmas ornaments, but to tell the truth, I think they're all my favorite.  I remember when and where we got each of them, and the ones from our parents, and from Will, mean so much to me.  You may remember me writing about the year our house was damaged by a tornado.  Three big (at least 100 feet tall) poplar trees fell on our roof and made holes in the roof.  Then the rain poured in for a good while after that.  At that time, I had all of our Christmas ornaments stored in boxes in the attic.  Amazingly, those boxes weren't damaged at all, but I never stored our Christmas decorations up there again.  I would have been heartsick if those keepsakes had been destroyed.

Do you find yourself taking a trip down memory lane when you hang your ornaments each Christmas?  Thanks for taking time during this busy season to visit here; I really appreciate your visits and comments.  I hope you have a good rest of the weekend.

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for "Metamorphosis Monday" -- hope to see you there!

Denise