Old and New

Some years ago I owned a fairly nice collection of Christmas tree ornaments, inherited from my late parents. Some were antiques. They had been on every family Christmas tree since I was born.

After our marriage I shared them with my husband. I loved seeing the old things on our very first tree. It seemed a perfect blending of my past with my present, and helped heal the pain of my parents' deaths.

Then we had children. Our younger child is a five-year-old, possibly autistic boy who likes to throw things. We used the old ornaments because these were all we had; we couldn't afford to buy more. We tried everything. Nothing worked. One by one, the lovely glass balls went smash against the wall Each time I heard one break my own heart broke a little too.

Fortunately we acquired more ornaments. Some were gifts from relatives. Many were left behind from a tenant of a family rental house. A few were made by our children as school projects. All graced our tree this Christmas.

Today we finally took down the Christmas tree. We're late because I've been quite ill for several weeks with a lung infection. As I took down the ornaments I thought about our old ones and our new ones. It's interesting how motherhood changes one's perspective. Our tree is much more beautiful now than it was with the antique ornaments. The best ones, that really make it shine, are the paper reindeer and the glass stocking that reads "Baby's First Christmas 1997". And the ones made precious by the memory of my son's eager hands putting them on the branches two and three at a time.

My old baubles served their time well. But the entire lot would look shabby next to a piece of red cardboard with a string for a loop, framing a picture of our daughter sitting on Santa's lap.