Heirloom decorations a family tradition
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By JEFF SNYDER
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — A baby’s first Christmas, the Eiffel Tower ornament from that trip to France or the handmade Popsicle stick cross covered in colorful glitter, these are all holiday decorations that stand the test of time.
Each year dust covered boxes reemerge from the basement or attic and open up a blast of nostalgia. Teary-eyed mothers gaze at the special ornaments that were created by their long since grown children and reminisce about the day these creations were presented by their proud children.
Heirloom décor is by no means a new thing. Families and businesses alike have been cherishing these holiday mementos for as long as people have pursued decorating for the holidays.
Each year the significance of these cherished memories further embed themselves into the fabric of family folklore. Grandma’s baby spoon with precious engravings depicting a time when need greatly outweighed want. The traditions of holiday décor hold the deepest of meaning and importance. They are a gentile reminder of a simpler time when the Christmas tradition was more about giving than receiving.
One such memory was shared by local shop keeper and longtime Mount Ayr resident Marilyn Saville, the owner of Aunt Jennies attic.
Saville recalled a special nativity scene cardboard popup display that had been in her family for years. She indicated that throughout the years of traveling from place to place and multiple moves, that somehow this cherished memory was lost.
“I don’t know exactly what happened to it but it just got lost somewhere along the way” she said.
She then indicated that on a recent trip to Des Moines she had gone to a Christian thrift store and was browsing through the treasures when she came upon an unopened original box that contained the exact Nativity Scene cardboard display that had been her family for years. She recalled that the original was from the 1950’s sometime, but that it held a special place in her family history. She was overwhelmed to the point of tears when she saw the copy of her thought to be lost memory. She didn’t hesitate for a moment. She bought the long lost heirloom and left with a joy in her heart.
Personal memories include a small stuffed moose ornament that I purchased while on a business trip to Tampa Florida for my then toddler daughter. She is now 25, yet the decoration faithfully finds a place on the tree each year. A hand made metal mermaid ornament that I gave to my wife for the holidays has now migrated its way back to the daughter in Pennsylvania thereby keeping the tradition of handed down keepsakes. I’m keeping the moose though.
The Editor/Publisher of The Record News shared his own personal family Christmas décor story by describing a special heirloom collection that takes up its place on the Garner mantle year round. The ornaments pictured in the custom made case made by Ken Garner’s father-in-law, shows the collection of special decorations accumulated by the Garner family over the decades.
“It’s important to continue following family holiday traditions as a link to our past and the key to our future,” Garner said. “Although it becomes more difficult as each generation before passes on it is what we instill in the next that keeps traditions alive.”
As long as tradition survives the ages, families, businesses and in some cases whole towns will continue to pass down precious mementos from generation to generation. The Webster’s definition of tradition states “The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation or the fact of being passed on in this way.”
I believe that that tradition has a less clinical definition.
I would say that it is a heartfelt way to preserve memories, love your family and friends and care enough to wish that others could share in the special feeling you experience each Christmas when unwrapping these memories.
