Tag Archives: Christmas Decorating

Dang it, Hallmark!

Some of my Hallmark 2020 Christmas ornament collection.

As I get ready to decorate my Christmas tree this coming weekend, I’m getting my decorations lined up including all my new Hallmark ornaments.  Back in 2016, I posted about my love of these Christmas ornaments and that I’ve been a collector since they were first introduced in the early 1970s.  My collection continues to grow even though this year I thought I could trim it back a bit.  That is, until the 2020 Hallmark Wish Book came out and… dang it, Hallmark!!!

I remember I spent an entire afternoon looking over the wish book online and making my list.  At first, I thought I would just add to the collections I already had, like Puppy Love or Mary’s Angels but yeah, that didn’t happen.  I ended up adding a total of 16 ornaments to my wish list that day plus adding a few to a reserve list.  What I’ve always discovered is that you have to see these ornaments in person sometimes because photos don’t do them justice.  So, when I picked my ornaments up at the Hallmark Premiere in July, I fell in love with several more.  (Uh-oh)

A couple of my additions this year, had to so with some events that happened (or didn’t) in 2020.  The birth of our first granddaughter means I got to buy several Baby’s First Christmas ornaments.  Sometimes its hard to pick just one so I went for two.  Then again, there’s a third one I have my eye on so hold me back!  I also found a beautiful Eiffel Tower ornament and a Compass that’s inscribed “Life’s Next Journey is the Scenic Route.”  This was to commemorate our cancelled Paris/France trip and also the fact that Eddie and I are now retired and ready to hit the road and travel. 

Hallmark is great at keeping up with movies and tv shows that we all love and creating ornaments.  I added another National Lampoon Christmas Vacation ornament – Clark with the chainsaw.  Little did I know how appropriate this one would be with my husband having a run in with a chainsaw last month!  There’s also another Elf ornament and new this year is the couch from the Friends tv show.  I can’t wait for more of those!  They also premiered a Golden Girls Rose Nylund ornament.  I’ve been getting back into that show lately on Hallmark channel so this was timely. 

But wait!  There’s more!  (Dang it again, Hallmark!) Like I said, I went back by my local Hallmark store for another holiday event and ended up buying a few of those ornaments on my reserve list.  I’ve done a lot of birdwatching and photographing this year so the Bluebird ornament along with the Bird Ornaments in the Box were a must have.  And the Star Wars Wookie with Princess Leia ornament, well, that one just made me smile and cry at the same time. 

My collection has grown so large that it may be time to divide everything up and share with my children.  I mean, that has always been my intent with these ornaments.  I want my children to create their own special memories with these Hallmark ornaments from their childhood and especially with the ones that bring them the most joy. 

Making Spirits Bright

Our family Christmas tree 2017

It’s been a full three days of decorating at my house!  Generally, I have my decorations up by the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but since we went to the beach I got a late start.  Normally I wouldn’t have been so anxious to get it all done by tonight, but I’m having my Fiesta board over for dinner on Thursday night and I want it to be just right!

Of course, instead of just doing what I did last year I decided a change was in order.  Don’t ask me why I do this to myself but I decided I wanted my front door and staircase to be silver and gold!  This meant buying a new green artificial wreath and finding just the right plastic gold and silver ornaments to use.  In the process, I also needed new lights for the swag over the door as well as the staircase.  Little bits of inspiration were hitting me all week as I pulled out items I haven’t used in a while.  I have a set of Southern Living at Home very heavy silver glass ornaments from way back.  I used to simply put them in a large vase in my bookcase but this year they’ve taken on a new look hanging from rhinestone ribbon and evenly spaced out on my staircase!  I actually found three extra of these ornaments at the thrift store a few months back so it must have been meant to be!  I’m loving the look…and the sparkle!

My front door wreath turned out pretty nice too, if I do say so myself!  This despite THREE finger burns with the hot glue gun!  Yikes!  I don’t know what was wrong with me today but that hot glue kept wanting to stick to ME rather than the ornaments!  I had two sizes of ornaments and decided it needed some smaller ones to fill in the gap so I headed to the Dollar Store for those.  I used the leftover plastic ornaments to make bundles of silver and gold to use on the outdoor swag and one I hung in the entryway.

Tonight, we decorated the family Christmas tree…me, my husband and my daughter, Emily.  It was a little bittersweet for me.  Generally, the last act of decorating for us is on Sunday night and all the kids make a point to be home to help out.  We take bets on how many of my Hallmark ornaments Eddie will break.  None this year…YAY!!!  We added just a few new Hallmark ornaments to my huge collection this year so they are safe until next year!  I always try to add the most ornaments to the tree after the rest of the family gives up.  All that is except for my son-in-law, Ryan!  He always sticks with me to pack the tree full!  Still…it was nice to spend time talking with my sweet Emily and watching Eddie look for gaps in the tree so we could fill them with ornaments.  We listened to Christmas music on Pandora and sang along.   Our annual family photo in front of the tree will have to wait until everyone is together over the holidays.  I look forward to that…