Ornaments

Since the year I was born, my parents began collecting ornaments from Hallmark. Each year Hallmark starts new series, ornaments to be collected year after year. We had lighthouses and cinnamon bears and an entire village of small buildings. The year I was born began the rocking horse series, so every year I was given a new rocking horse ornament until the series ended. I have fifteen in all, and every year since marrying Adam, they have adorned our tree.

About a week ago, my mom told me she thought she might have two of my ornaments. In addition to the horses, she started buying me Mary's Angels ornaments when I was a little girl. They are little angels sitting on clouds and, amazingly, Hallmark is still making new ones after twenty-two years. After digging out our Christmas boxes last night, I lined up all my Mary's Angels to see if any were missing. I found I have nineteen, so two are missing in addition to this year's, which I haven't received yet.

As I lined them up on the couch, I inspected them all. Some of the boxes are a little beat up. In our most recent move, they ended up in the garage and the boxes didn't fare well in the humidity. But, more importantly, the ornaments are in tact and waiting to be placed on the tree we'll purchase Friday.

This little one, pictured above, is fifth in the series, and her name is Lily. Cute, huh? Who knew that seventeen years after receiving this I would have my own Lily and that she would look remarkably like the ornament?