Thursday, December 22, 2011

Advent Calendar ~ Deceased Relatives ~



I have always had a little tree with the cute little burlap bottom for Christmas (purchased at my local craft store) on my kitchen counter for many years. I would adorn this little tree with Christmas cookie cutters and lights. Some of the Christmas shaped cookie cutters once belonged to mom . . . she gave them to me for the kids.  Our cookie cutter tree always makes my kitchen bright and sweet...the kids smile when they see it!  Now, I have two miniature Christmas trees in my kitchen/family room . . . .

~ First Ancestor Tree ~ 

Right after my maternal Uncle Adi passed away in 2004, I came up with the idea to put photos on tags of all my family members who have passed and would not be with us during Christmas. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet but I found paper photo tags at my local craft store and thought that they would work for the time being.


I didn't like the size or that "store bought look" at the time but at least I could honor my loved ones on the tree right away.  I had always wanted to make my own tags and last year I had shared the idea with a fellow blogger . . . so in 2010 I made my own. Tammy, over at Rosie Cotton  liked the idea then, so in 2010, she contacted me asking if I had done them and to check hers out.   Tammy's came out beautiful and she motivated me to get started on mine.


It was hard for me to get motivated that year (2010) because I had to add my beautiful Mom (1933~2010) and my Oma (1913~2010). I just couldn't get myself started but I knew I needed to. I got together with my neighbor Claire . . . she really helped me to push myself and get the creative juices flowing!
Between Claire and Tammy, I finally did get my tags done (2010) and I was very happy with them. So . . . thank you Tammy and Claire for supporting me in a very delicate project. It's still difficult to see my beautiful Mom's tag on that tree . . . she is so very missed . . . all of our Ancestors are very missed.

I decided to place my Ancestor tree under my family tree chart . . . which is very near my kitchen and can be seen from just about every angle.  It's a perfect spot I must say.


Last year, several bloggers made the suggestion to keep my ancestor tree up all year... I am reporting, this year (2011) that I did leave it up all year, each day I would plug in the lights . . . I think it's a great way to keep our loved ones who have passed, close to us all year and especially at Christmas time.

Happy Holidays to you and yours! 

Photobucket


blog divider

 This post originally created for the
             With the passing of my Mom (1933~2010) and Grandmother (1913~2010)  in 2010,
I have made changes to the original 2010 post . 







11 comments:

Carol said...

I love that you display in in front of that family pedigree chart as well, and photos along side. Really quite nice Gini!

Gini said...

Thank you, Carol . . . it's nice having a family/family tree area. I decided last Christmas to leave it "as is" all year and I have really been enjoying it. Sort of kept the Christmas spirit if you will!

Dawn said...

Very nice idea, Gini! Looks great!

Amanda said...

What a neat idea! It's beautiful and so special. Thank you for sharing!

Gini said...

Thank you, Dawn and Amanda . . . it's wonderful having our ancestors visually close to us always. This year I am planning an Ancestor photo wall in my home . . . still working on the layout and frames but I want to dedicate a wall to just Ancestors and then maybe the hallway (we have a very long hall) to my daughter and her family and my hubbies daughters and their families. Thank you for stopping by.

Kathy Reed said...

I seem to remember your post on photo tags last year. That is such a beautiful idea! Nice that you left it up all year below your ancestry chart. Have a wonderful Christmas, Gini.

Gini said...

Thank you, Kathy . . . seemed like the perfect place to keep it! Merry Christmas to you and yours, Kathy . . . I hope you have a very blessed Christmas ~

Colleen G. Brown Pasquale said...

Great idea for a memory tree. The tags are very clever.
http://leavesnbranches.blogspot.com/

Gini said...

Thank you, Colleen, they came out the way I had hoped. I have several more to do and hope to get them done soon.

Susan said...

I love the idea of a "memory tree" for the holidays. Yours is just beautiful! Maybe next Christmas I will use some of these ideas, thanks!

Gini said...

Thank you, Susan, it's great to have our ancestors visually close . . . they are in our hearts but I sure love looking at them too! I hope you are able to make one, once you have one, you will love it.