Advent Calendar ~ Day 3 ~ Christmas Tree Ornaments

Our tree always had traditional German ornaments, the most beautiful kind. Some glass, some handmade and very delicate. Mom (1933~2010) still has many from close to fifty years ago. I have several heirloom ornaments that have a very special meaning to me so I have chosen a few to share with you.

My Oma, Liselotte Haf née Kaiser-Saule, passed away the 5th of April 2010...these ornaments are truly a treasure more than ever.

My Oma, Lieselotte Haf, lived in Augsburg, Germany, made these wonderful walnut ornaments for me. Oma traveled every few years to California to visit us. During one of her visits she wanted to make some traditional walnut ornaments, the kind she made back home during tough times.

We bought a bag of walnuts, red yarn, and gold paint! Oma and I sat and carefully cracked open the walnuts so that we could glue the string inside, glue the walnut back together and paint them gold. That was 31 years ago this Christmas. I will never forget sharing this time with her, laughing as we would try not to crack the walnut shells into pieces! In mom's own words, "German's like handmade ornaments, nature type ornaments." I have cherished the walnut ornaments Oma made me and proudly put them on my tree each Christmas.

Hand made ornament

My aunt Gitta in Germany is an expert at "Kloppeln". It's not embroidery, it's not needlepoint, or cross stitch - it's German Lace Making. Aunt Gitta has her own style, but I can tell you it's amazing. Aunt Gitta has spent many hours making these beautiful heirlooms and I cherish each and every one of them she made for me.

Aunt Gitta has made several items for mom and for me over the years, the Christmas tree ornament is truly beautiful along with this Kloppeln doily that I use under my mini memory tree in my family room. My mini memory tree has photos of loved ones and ancestors passed. I always have a mini tree in my kitchen/family room, it use to have Christmas cookie cutters on it, now it holds photos as ornaments of those we want to remember and we miss so much.

This year, I have decided to do "Mom's Christmas Tree Jewels ~ Memory Count Down to share mom's Christmas tree ornaments that she collected over my lifetime and many that she gifted to me each Christmas. This year I have been blessed to own these beautiful ornaments and her lovely artificial tree. Click ~ here ~ to enjoy an ornament a day. Originally I was only going to post just up to Christmas day but I have decided to do it for the entire month of December . . . there are so many that I may have to double up but I want to visually document our Christmas memories for the generations to come.

~ Happy Holidays! ~

 This post originally created for the Christmas Tree Ornament Memories on the

Advent Calendar of Memories in December 2009 ~   

             With the passing of my Mom and Grandmother in 2010, I

have made changes to the original 2009 post . 

Advent Calendar of Memories 2011

Advent Calendar ~ Holiday Foods

Advent Calendar ~ Day 2 ~ Memories of our Holiday Foods~

Some of my favorite memories are of Mom (1933~2010) baking a ton of cookies. I remember that she would start baking early in November and then store them in tin containers until the Christmas holiday.

Cookies~

My favorite were mom's Spritz cookies - they were so good! In the last few years mom had added a few variations to her traditional spritz cookie. Knowing how much I love these cookies and chocolate, mom combined the two, dipping half of the spritz cookie in chocolate. Not only does it look good, but it was to die for!

Mom also made a crescent shaped hazelnut cookie with powdered sugar on top, everyone in my family loves the hazelnut cookies. Another cookie that comes to mind are her buttery sugar cookies. All of these recipes and more are in German in her own handwriting. Slowly, mom started to translate the recipes from German to English so that not only will I have them, but our holiday food traditions would continue to be handed down. Sadly, losing my Mom and my Grandmother (1913~2010) in 2010, only a few of the family recipes were translated. I am slowly working on getting the recipes translated into English. I am attempting to learn German and my cousin, Marion in Germany, is helping me through this interesting journey.

Breads and Cakes~

Mom also made a German bread called "Stollen" which consists of: candied fruit, nuts, raisins and marzipan. Sorry, not one of my favorites but very traditional. Of course there is my most favorite, great Oma Margarete's 'German Marble Cake'.

Christmas Packages from Germany~

Once mom and I were here in the states, my Oma would send us a Christmas package every year. It was always exciting because she would send foods that mom was used to having and what I grew to love. Oma always sent the kidney shaped chocolate liquors which is a hard dark chocolate shell on the outside, filled with Brandy on the inside, these are now available at stores like "Trader Joes". You had to pop the entire candy in your mouth or Brandy would drip all over. As a child, I was only allowed one or two of these and I still remember how good they were and thinking how grown-up I got to be!

Dinners

I don't recall this dinner, however, mom said that the traditional holiday dinner that was cooked was a goose. What I recall of our holiday dinner was a roast with potato balls, smothered in her German gravy. For as far back as I can remember, mom had made the potato balls from scratch. Potato balls are very labor intensive as mom got older, she started to use a German packaged potato ball mix named "Phanni". They are still very good, but not as good as mom's homemade. The store bought mix method was much easier on mom, this allowed her to spend more time with family and I was all for that.

I truly miss mom's Christmas cookies and the wonderful dinner she would always prepare at Christmas but I have so many amazing memories to sustain me and my family ~ I thank mom and Oma for the very special and magical Christmas memories a girl could have.

                                                 

~ Happy Holidays ~ 

 This post originally created for the Holiday Food Memories on the

Advent Calendar of Memories in December 2009 ~   

             With the passing of my Mom and Grandmother in 2010, I

have made changes to the original 2009 post . 

Advent Calendar of Memories 2011

                                                                             

Advent Calendar ~ Our Christmas Trees

Each and every Christmas tree I have ever had in my life has been decorated in true German tradition and was always beautifully done by my mom!

Until mom and I came to the U.S., our tree was not put up until Christmas Eve. In true German tradition, the tree is not put up until then. The "living room" in German homes usually have doors attached and can be locked. On Christmas Eve, mom and Oma would be up late decorating our live tree so it would be ready for Christmas morning. Back then they even used real candles! Can you imagine doing that now! Once the tree was complete, the doors would be locked and not opened until Christmas morning! Sadly, I do not have any photos of those trees.

Once here in the U.S., mom became a little "Americanized". She would always put up a beautiful tall full live tree just after Thanksgiving all the way up to her passing away . . . I am attempting to continue this tradition now . Mom was a master at decorating the Christmas tree as well as the entire house, her trees are amazing! I had always said to her, you should have worked for Macy's as their Christmas window display decorator.

Until recently, we both have always had live 'Noble Fir' trees in our own homes. Both mom and I turned to artificial trees, to see them you can not even tell they are fake, especially with mom's touch.

Mom's Artificial Tree and enchanting Thomas Kinkade Village, 2008

Mom has German ornaments that are close to 50 years old. Now they have been passed down to me and they are on my tree today. I have the last of the real lead tinsel from Germany. I don't use it on my tree because of our little grand kids, but the individual strands are very heavy! Each tree would have over 2000 lights with angel hair in-between the branches.

My tree in 2011 . . .  This is my late mother's tree (photo of tree in her home in first photo above) that is now proudly standing in my home with all of her ornaments.

Each year,  I learned more and more from my beautiful mom on how to decorate the tree, but I know my tree will never be as amazing as hers. Each year mom  would give me more ornaments and my tree would get prettier and prettier! Now, I will proudly be the keeper of the heirloom ornaments that has been passed down to me. I do miss a real tree smell, but mom's artificial tree is just as beautiful and I can leave it up as long as I like. I don't have as many lights on my tree as mom had on hers, but that's ok, less to take down! We are all decorated here, ready for Christmas and enjoying the beauty of my Christmas tree.

I always loved going home to mom's for Christmas . She would have two trees, one in the family room and one in the formal living room and would always be anxious to see them.  Christmas was always special at mom's and I would feel like a kid again and it's as if you were walking into a home in Germany. Now that mom has passed, I am hoping to keep her Christmas traditions and memories alive . . . she is all around us and I just sit and absorb the beauty of it all.

~ Happy Holidays ~ 

 This post originally created for the Our Christmas Tree Memories on the

Advent Calendar of Memories in December 2009 ~   

             With the passing of my Mom and Grandmother in 2010, I

have made changes to the original 2009 post . 

Advent Calendar of Memories 2011