The Twelfth Day of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my Granny gave to me a tree full of ornaments she made. From the time I was 8 or so until she lost vision in one of her eyes, I must have been 38, Granny spent all of her free time sewing.

She collected various colors of felt, pom poms, sequins, thread and any other pieces and parts she could use to decorate. Birds were one of her first designs.

She scoured coloring books, cartoons and our lives for patterns and ideas for ornaments. If we got a new dog, an ornament in their likeness would soon appear on our tree.


These are my favorite Christmassy ornaments that Granny made. There are hundreds of others she created. But, for the Twelfth Day of Christmas, the traditional red, Santa clothes, reindeer, wreaths and mice show up so well on the Christmas tree.


Some were designed with children in mind while others were meant to appeal to everyone.

Granny was a constant in my life. We spent Christmases at her house until she downsized to a small apartment. Then, she came to our houses. The cousins would get together every year (and still do) to exchange gifts. All of our trees look similar...covered in ornaments made by Granny.

Now that Granny has joined the Chorus of Angels, her presence is especially with us at Christmas. As I decorated the tree this year, I remembered which ornaments she gave me when I graduated from college... The ones she gave me when the boys were born... The ones she made because the boys liked Sesame Street.

It's appropriate that Granny died on Mother's Day weekend. Her daughters and favorite niece were together with her on her last day. Whenever she remenisced, her family members were the focus. With three daughters and 11 siblings, not to mention all of the grandchildren, there were plenty of family stories to tell.

Granny and her sister, Martha Edna (always pronounced MothEdna), worked together to create so many of the ornaments. They sold their ornaments at various craft fairs.

This Santa ornament was also made into napkin rings. This pulled the Christmas decor from the living room into the dining room.

Some of the last designs Granny came up with were like this one. I love that Santa is holding a bird.

Even though I know this is Mrs. Claus, I always thought of her as Granny. She was the inspiration for so many of our Christmas traditions. While I thought she was the glue that held our extended family together, we have continued our celebrations together.

While many think of Santa as the focus of Christmas, I know that family is the most important tradition of Christmas for me.

Make your family the focus of your holidays.

Forgive those who have disappointed you.

Give the gift of time...share stories, laugh, play games.

You'll have no regrets!

May your Christmas memories warm your heart this and every year!