Comments on: We all need to learn to crochet, pronto (sponsored)

By: Cara

Cara — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 07:09:17 +0000

Oh, and I participated in an ornament exchange this year — we each had to make 15 identical ornaments and will get 15 unique ornaments — I’m excited to get my box in the mail this weekend:) I experimented with all kinds of designs using felt and buttons before settling on one, so today I had several handmade-by-me ornaments to put on our tree which felt…satisfying.
And I found an ornament Brooklyn painted at Brushstrokes 2 years ago — completely forgot we did that…and should have done it again this year!:)

By: Cara

Cara — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 07:06:34 +0000

Brooklyn and I decorated the tree this afternoon, and I showed her the pasta angel and said “Look the wings are just like the pasta Daddy made for us yesterday!”. The arms are macaroni, and Brooklyn asked “What is the hair?!”. It is those tiny little noodles…googling…ditalini-like but even smaller. Anyway, that’s the part that really made me smile — picturing my grandma gluing on these teeny tiny noodles to make the hair. Amazing.

By: AKD

AKD — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:05:51 +0000

My mom is Swedish, and one thing she is serious about is Christmas. We both have only Swedish Xmas ornaments on our trees and none of the sentimental homemade stuff (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I still feel like there are memories embodied in my ornaments because some are handed down from my mom’s collection, sgifts I’ve gotten starting when I was a kid,and others are things I’ve bought myself. I agree about the craftsmanship disappearing – my mom has some pretty unique things, like handcarved tiny wooden birds, paper stars made by hand, handblown glass ornaments. I’m an only child so I will eventually inherit this collection which will be amazing, but quite overwhelming.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:31:30 +0000

@Heather, I do not recommend putting fresh food on your new artificial tree as you will not be composting it at the end of the season. On a real tree, sure. I fear that packing up a tree with cranberry shrapnel on it at the end of the season will not lead to good things.

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:34:41 +0000

@Whitney and @Cara, it sounds like “save the whole family ornaments for my own tree” is a better plan than “give the family ornaments to my favorite son” — I love it!

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:33:49 +0000

@Karen, I have a bag of fresh cranberries from Thanksgiving (from when I bought a bag of fresh, a Whole Foods premade cranberry sauce, AND a can of jelled goo — what was I thinking?!), should we string some up? Seriously, I have never done it so I don’t know if I have the right stuff.

By: Rachel - A Southern Fairytale

Rachel - A Southern Fairytale — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:26:07 +0000

Awww I love those ornaments.
I wrote about our Christmas Tree and Ornament traditions today, too

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:08:11 +0000

My sister who is 40 still busts out the old-timey crafts! She made her daughter a gorgeous cross stitch stocking that took like 2 years to finish. She started one for my son (9 mos) so by the time he “gets” Xmas it should be ready! Lucky him.

My parents still string cranberries and popcorn but honestly it is not that fun. I think it’s ok to move into different types of crafted/purchased ornaments as long as the sentiment and the care remain. A store-bought ornament with my name in my grandma’s handwriting in permanent marker is just as meaningful as if she had crafted it!

By: Whitney

Whitney — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:26:51 +0000

@Cara, so smart to have the family ornament and an individual one. @Heather, did you catch that? Or maybe you’re already on it.

Also, @Cara, I love the thought of a grandma sitting around doing crafts with pasta.

By: Cara

Cara — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:21:03 +0000

My mom bought an ornament for me and one for my brother every year when we were little as well as a “family” ornament — we got all of ours when we left home, and she kept the family ones. I’m keeping up the tradition, so that I will have a box to give Brooklyn later and will still have one from each year on my own tree.
I also have all the ornaments I made as a child — my favorite is the one I made in kindergarten — a wooden snowflake painted white with copious amounts of green glitter all over it.
My grandma made ornaments, and my favorite is an angel made from various pasta products — the wings are a farfalle noddle for instance. She painted the whole thing white, and it’s awesome.

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:58:02 +0000

I no longer know how to make a golden-macaroni-letter-cardboard bell, but I’m okay with that.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:30:31 +0000

@Sarah, I did feel a bit like crying when I was handed the box of ornaments. I don’t want to grow up!