Julia Gabriel's Blog, page 5

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 12

Well of course the last day has to be the tree topper! For years ( and by years, I mean over a decade), my husband and I had no tree topper. With a degree in graphic design, he is very picky about the aesthetics of things and we had just never found one we liked enough to buy. Until a few years back when we came across these amazing bent wood snowflakes at the Waterford Craft Fair in Waterford, Virginia. It was love at first sight—and now we finally have a tree topper!

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 11

This cloisonne ornament (a gift from my husband) requires an especially sturdy branch. Despite its small size, it's one of the heaviest ornaments on our tree.

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 10

When I was a kid, my favorite part of decorating the tree came at the very end where we would throw great handfuls of those foil icicles onto the tree—as a finishing touch! My husband, as an art school grad, cannot abide those icicles on our tree but he did give me a set of glass icicles a few years back. I have to say, these do catch the light nicely ... but can't be hurled at the tree.

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 9

Okay, I'll come clean. I skipped a day! It was due to a combination of my local RWA chapter's holiday party on Saturday, quite a bit of snow on Sunday and a smidge of "I forgot."

This ornament is another I purchased on a summer trip to Maine. It commemorates the first fish my son caught, on Echo Lake. The ornament is only slightly smaller than the actual fish. :-)

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 8

This is just such a gorgeous ornament, a photograph doesn't really do it justice. This was another gift from my jet-setting sister-in-law. She picked this one up in Delft in the Netherlands.

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 7

This was a gift a few years ago from my jet-setting sister-in-law who lives in London and travels all over for business (my son likes to joke that the only place she hasn't been is Antarctica, and that isn't too far from the truth). And honestly, I don't remember which country she bought this in, but it is a ceramic "origami" reindeer—and looks more graceful in real life than in my photo.

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 6

Maine is our favorite vacation spot (well, not my son's—he prefers a warm beach) and we have several ornaments from trips to Mt. Desert/Acadia. We found this one, a wooden sleigh, in an adorable Christmas shop in Bar Harbor. A nice memory of summer vacations when it's cold and snowy outside!

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 5

This ornament is actually a suncatcher and so doesn't really show up well on the tree, even backlit by a light. But my husband and I bought this in Canterbury. I was about four months pregnant at the time, so this ornament reminds me of both my pregnancy and a wonderful trip to England.

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 4

For the past 70 years, the historic town of Waterford, Virginia and the Waterford Foundation have been doing a wonderful home tour and craft fair. When I lived in Virginia, my husband and I went to the fair every year to buy crafts and, of course, Christmas ornaments!

This is a scherenschnitte ornament, which is cut paper inside glass. We have several of these and it always takes me awhile to find just the right spot on the tree for them. They need to hang

The 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments: Day 3

The ornament I wish I'd had the foresight to buy more of!

I bought three of these tin cut-out ornaments from a lovely craftswoman at the American Craft Council show in Baltimore. I went back the next year, determined to buy more but she wasn't there. Or the next year. Or the year after that. I've scoured the Internet and Etsy looking for these ornaments but to no avail. I'll just have to enjoy the three I have!