Beckett's Journal

This is an offshoot of my sketchbook.
Any opinions expressed are my own. At least I hope so.

Previous journal entries:
12/6/2001: Galpals
9/25/2001: Flags
9/7/2001: BabyBabyBaby
8/9/2001: Moving
6/25/2001: Sleeping through the night
6/21/2001: Why Website?

12-16-2001

Ornaments

We're getting ready for the twins' first Christmas. We picked a tree yesterday, and I dragged out the ornaments. I've always been partial to the "special ornament" school of tree decorating, which tends to lead to a very haphazard hodgepodge look to a tree, but each ornament has unique memories attached. Paul and I have made a habit of getting one or two new special ornaments every year, and it's amazing how many have accumulated after twenty years!

Whenever I feel like Christmas is meaningless and it's all blurring by too fast, all it takes to cheer me up is putting up the special ornaments and it reminds me of all the different events that have happened over the years. I couldn't resist picking some random ones out to tell their stories here. Merry Christmas, all.

Santa here is from about five years ago now. He's cylindrical with little feet that swing and clank when you move him. He's just so cheerful; he was a needed boost that year because we were both working like crazy and wondering if that was all there was to life. We've been happy to find out since that there's a _lot_ more to life. :)

Alice with the baby/pig and the White Rabbit. I got these and several others on the same theme at the Winchester Mystery House about 8 years ago now, I think. I now know that the baby turning into a pig was Lewis Carroll's inside joke for parents; babies all too frequently look and sound like pigs!

I've always thought this plum looked like marzipan. We have a matching peach, too. The year we got this one we spent the days around Christmas driving all over California like maniacs trying to visit all our various family groups. It culminated with Paul and I putting snowchains on Paul's dad's car up in the mountains during a snowstorm. We'd never put chains on before...

The white dove. We got this one the first year we were together, and every year since then its nestled among the branches of that year's tree like a secret little prayer. I'm a little superstitious about this one, which is not my usual style, but this bird always makes me feel like it's bringing light and happiness for us for the coming year. It's worked so far. :)

A moon painted by hand in India. I paid about 2 dollars for this just last year and I still can't fathom how little the artist must have been paid for such painstaking fine workmanship. The Moon seemed very appropriate for my very pregnant state at the time.

The Russian egg. Acquired during the period right after Russia opened up to capitalism. There was a wave of beautiful arts and crafts that came pouring out around then. The egg splits apart and has a red lining inside just waiting for a present...

A little Singer sewing machine that my mom gave me years ago. I'll always think of my mom when I pull out this ornament; she's the one that taught me to sew as a kid. And sewing in its various forms is still something we bond over. :)

The christmas tree from Paul's car. He had it knocking around on the dashboard for several years, and one side is all faded from the sun. I finally took pity on it about six years ago and rescued it. It's hung on the tree every year since then. It's outlasted the car, as it turns out.

A real chrysalis, painted with iridescent fingernail polish. The guy that did these said he harvested a lot of these from a tree nearby. I felt a bit weird accepting this one; it made me nervous for years that it would finally hatch. I still wonder what species it was.

A real little book that we got the first year we had our own place together. It actually has all the words to the poem inside. I remember Paul reading me the poem that year while I hung other ornaments. I looked at his beard and thought he'd fit right into the story if he had a stocking cap. :)

The Dolly Angel. We got this from a Christmas craft fair when we were still at Davis struggling to finish our degrees. Our friend Caroline was selling some of her handmade ornaments. I bought a little "cathedral window" quilted ornament that she'd made, but one of the dogs chewed it beyond saving about 10 years ago. This little angel evaded their jaws, fortunately. Caroline passed away from cancer the year after that fair. She was forty-one. Seeing this dolly always makes me think of Caroline's wry sense of humor and her great smile. And it always makes me want to savor the moments because it's all flying by so fast and you never know how long you have to enjoy all the ones you love.