The Christmas Calendar

Growing up my sister and I had a Christmas calendar similar to the one pictured above, except ours was a bit better. Our Mom hand sewn little embroidered ornaments for each of the days of Christmas. I think it was probably one of our favorite Christmas things to do. I remember that my sister ALWAYS got to put the star up the 24th and for years I wondered how she accomplished getting the prize ornament. Obviously older and wiser in being able to do the math certainly worked in her benefit. Usually most of the ornaments were just placed back after the countdown and Christmas season were over. It wasn't until THIS year, my Mom told me about the symbolisms of why certain ornaments were place in certain pockets. Maybe it won't matter to the entire world, but I wanted to share in any case.

Dec 3rd

For this one I had to laugh when my Mom told me the story. She uses the embroidered teddy bear ornament on this day to remember her brother as it is his birthday. The reason WHY she always puts the teddy bear back in this particular pocket was because when he was little, he was a naughty, little boy. My Grandmother was so mad at him one day, she took his bear and beat the crap out of it. She beat it so badly that she had to sew the bear back up. He must of did something spectacular!

Dec 7th

The meaning behind this ornament runs certainly deep with just about every American family. She had embroidered the word "Peace" in delicate gold and silver thread. The particular meaning behind it was, this also happens to be Pearl Harbor Day. A day that rocked the nation and certainly changed her life (my Grandfather fought in World War II) and so many other lives around the world.

Dec 13th

The 13th happens to be my Nagymama's birthday. Growing up, my Nagymama never had a doll. Could you imagine being a little girl and not ever having a doll? When she grew up, her husband bought her very first doll only to have it stolen. Had I known, I would of certainly gotten her loads of dolls. It doesn't make up for it, but I wish I could of shown the gesture any how. For this date, we have a small embroidered doll to remember her by.

Dec 14th

The 14th was my Grandfather's birthday. When he was a little kid, for Christmas he was give a whole dollar. He was sent to by his two brothers, two sisters and himself a Christmas present. Some how he had enough money to buy himself a sled. For this day, my Mom always put the ornament of a little wooden sled to remember one of his own childhood memories.

There are other memories here and there with different decorations around my house. Certain ornaments on my tree remind me of things in the past like a ball with the NYC skyline as it reminds me of visiting NYC with my sister and Mom after 9/11 or an ornament of little squirrels selling hot nuts to remind me of when we visited Morrows Nut Shop in Cleveland. The Nutcrackers share special memories as we would see the play every year when I was a kid. My Moravian tin angels reminds me of Winston-Salem, a place where I spent a lot of my childhood. There are so many memories wrapped up in Christmas and such a wonderful time to celebrate family especially Christ's birth.

Do you have any interesting symbolic things you do for Christmas other then celebrating the obvious meaning of Christ's birth? Do any of your decorations hold a special meaning?