This weeks challenge for Inspiration Avenue is:

"What's in Your Christmas Ball"

When I read the theme I thought of the Christmas Trees that are decorated each year with a different theme, never the same from year to year. They might be all Snowmen, or Santa"s, a certain color like Blue & Silver or Red & Gold. In our 44 yrs of marriage this has not been the case. Our trees have always been decorated with ornaments handed down from family member, homemade ornaments or that special ornament picked out specifically at a Christmas craft show. When the Christmas boxes come out & the ornament boxes are opened the memories flow:

"Oh remember when we got this one in Hawaii?"

"Oh here are the ones we bought for Shelly's first Christmas"

"Aunt Hazel made one of these for all the family members"

"I remember getting this one at a Ornament Exchange when I worked at Gallagher"

"We got these for each family member & had them personalized in Ketchikan"

"Shelly & I, each got one of these at a Christmas Bazaar in Illwaco"

"I never thought I would get all the pins in these sequins when I made this one"

I could go on & on, but I love opening the box with the few fragile glass ornaments, that my parents got before I was born. The colors aren't as bright & the hooks are gone, replace by modern ones. Yet when you look at them they seem to say:

Heirloom

Aged

Fragile

Generations Past

Treasured

Below are pictures for these precious ornaments, that are still in our family, hanging on our tree. In the middle is the Angel tree topper & Rudolph ornament from my first Christmas.

So here's my interpretation of:

"What's in Your Christmas Ball"