Monday, December 16, 2013

Christmas Ornaments Tell Family History

A few days ago I posted a photo of some of my Christmas tree ornaments on Facebook, and I received a lot of comments and email.  I thought I would follow up with a few more photos of my Christmas Tree ornament collection, and explain how they are connected to our family history.  If you have a similar collection, or even just one or two tree ornaments that are related to your genealogy, please leave a comment or a link to your photos!

Here are some ornaments I collected in Massachusetts.
You can find these year round in gift shops at historic sites.
Left- Mayflower II in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Right- The Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Massachusetts

This is the photo I posted on Facebook.  The clothes pin minuteman is from
the gift shop of the Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Massachusetts.
My Munroe ancestors fought in the famous battle in 1775.
The teapot came from Mount Vernon

A schooner to represent the many mariners
in my New England family tree

This is Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii.
 It was a gift from the curator of Washington Place

A Maine lobster pot, because there
were many fisherman, clammers and lobstermen
in the family tree, too

A homemade Hawaiian ukulele boy
made from a clothes pin
from a cousin in Hawaii.  Mele Kalikimaka! 

We found this in the gift shop at the
Tower of London many years ago- in March!
Many souvenirs can be made into ornaments

This was a Hallmark ornament from 1992,
celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage

Another gift from a Hawaiian cousin
There is a German tradition to hide a pickle
on your Christmas tree. The child who finds it
gets an extra Christmas gift.  

Just for fun, and for my New England roots,
a Moose angel! 

I hope you enjoyed this sampling of some of my ornaments.  I hope you will share your collection, too! 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Christmas Ornaments Tell Family History", Nutfield Genealogy, Posted December 16, 2013, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-ornaments-tell-family-history.html: accessed [access date]). 

8 comments:

  1. Heather,

    I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/12/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-december-20.html

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  2. What a great idea! I love it!
    In our family we build personal histories using ornaments. Each year I buy one for each of my sons which connects to their year in some way, whether it is something they did a lot of, were particularly interested in etc.

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  4. What a great tradition. I love that Iolani Palace ornament.

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  5. Those are fantastic. I need to pull out some things from my travels and include them.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, sometimes souvenirs and keychains can be made into cute ornaments just by adding a red bow or a hook.

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  6. Heather, any idea where can I purchase the Monroe Tavern decoration?

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    Replies
    1. The Lexington, Massachusetts Historical Society. (I originally bought it many years ago at the Tavern itself in Lexington, Massachusetts, which is run by the Historical Society)

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