When Amber and Kayla were little, I started the tradition of buying them an angel ornament each year. I would write their name and the year on it with the intention that one day they would take the angel collection, and hang them on their own Christmas tree.
Each year it became harder and harder to find acceptable angel ornaments. I would search every store I would go into hoping I could find some that were different, but also had space to write on. I was always surprised at the lack of angel ornaments to be found. After all it was Christmas... "Hark the herald, angels sing"... and all.
Some years I didn't think I was going to find angels and always kept internet shopping as a last resort. But, every year I would find angel ornaments, even if I just happened to wander across some at the neighborhood grocery store.
Amber and Kayla have their own homes now and their own Christmas trees. As I was decorating my tree this year and hanging each angel, I knew it was time to let my girls grow up. It was time for the angels to leave my tree.
Knowing this was the last year my babies' angel ornaments would be together on one tree... my tree, gave admiring the decorations a whole new meaning. I would still have their first Christmas ornaments, their hand print ornaments and the ornaments they made at school, but the angel ornaments were searched for and bought just for them.
After Christmas was over, it came time to box Christmas up for another year. I'm always ready to have my house back to it's normal state of chaos, but it always makes me a little sad that the Christmas spirit gets put in a box and duct taped closed.
Usually Richard sends me off shopping for after Christmas sales while he de-Christmas' the house, but this year he had to work the day after Christmas. I looked around the house for someone else to start taking Christmas down, but it appeared I was drafted for the job.
I began taking the ornaments off the tree. I knew I would have to pay attention to each one, so I could separate Amber and Kayla's angels from the ornaments that would go up in my attic. As I held each angel, I looked at the name and year I had written on it. I remembered where I bought each one and remembered writing their names. I even laughed at some of the "not so cute" angels, knowing I had settled for them because I couldn't find any others.
By the time I had finished, Amber and Kayla each had a bag full of angel ornaments. The first angel was dated 1989 and the last angel was dated 2011. With a lump in my throat, I stood holding my girls' childhood Christmases in my hands.
"Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o're the plains..."
If I were to guess, since I will no longer be shopping for angel ornaments, starting next year I will be seeing an abundance of angel Christmas ornaments in each store I enter... and I'll smile.
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