Happy Holidays!

[L Verge]

When my daughter got married in 1996, our heirloom ornaments went to her house to continue the tradition. She has resorted to a fake tree, but it is so filled with ornaments that you can't see the branches. At the top, sits a paper angel nestled in spun glass clouds. There is a story behind that. When I was teaching in the 1960s, a student of mine gave me that angel. It was very special to me because it was exactly like the one that had been on my childhood trees and was now too shabby to put out. I learned later that Mary (one of my special students) had shoplifted the angel to have something to give me. That did not diminish its value to me one iota. My daughter knows the story, and being a teacher also, she's cool with the idea.

On the rows closest to the angel are ornaments from my grandmother's first Christmas tree in 1875, others from the family through the ages, my mother's first in 1914, my first in wartime 1943 (clear purple glass with paper cap and string for hanging during the time of rationing metals), and on through 2013. My daughter is an ornament addict, but somehow they all make it on the tree and look gorgeous. She has a tabletop tree in her foyer on which she displays all of the White House ornaments. And, I just ordered the one that Roger posted that is from the Secret Service's White House series.

Like Betty, I have a collection of paper ornaments and greeting cards from the 19th century that came through the family also. Those were always displayed at Surratt House during our holiday event. They are now stored in conservation boxes because they became more fragile each year. The greeting cards, however, led to my collecting antique valentines - but that's another story.