My family got to put up two Yule trees most years: my grandpa’s on Thanksgiving and our home, family tree when we got home.
Our family tree was filled with ornaments my brother and I made at school and store-bought ornaments. The picture above is a gem of an ornament we made in school. I was 7 in 1985. Long hair, missing a tooth. My striped shirt had ruffles on the shoulders. I always argued having to put it on the tree. The other side, colored in by me as a Yule tree, faces into my apartment. It’s colored in as a Yule tree. It’s nice to have this memory of a younger me, even though I still find the picture to be awkward.
My grandpa’s tree was filled with ornaments from his travels and gifts from other people. When Grandpa moved from his big house to his condo, he gifted us with many of the ornaments that just weren’t going to fit in the new place. I took this one, because I like the idea of having something on the tree that’s older than me. This ornament always has a special place in a prominent place on the tree.