constance | Catching up

I really kind of love my ornament collection. It's not perfectly coordinated, nor is it in, er, perfect taste, and it's not even in perfect condition, but every one of the ornaments has sentimental value for me. I don't recall buying more than half a dozen ornaments in my life; everything was given to me by parents, relatives, friends of the family. Here are some of the highlights.

	01 Tree with the lights on.
	02 Tree with the lights off.
	03 The oldest personal ornament I have (it was given to me the year I was born). It's seen so many, many better days that it's progressed beyond ratty and is heading into creepy territory. But I still love it.
	04 My sweet little Mod Angel, with the green hair and the blue, blue eyeshadow and the false eyelashes, and that's not even to mention the outfit. If I thought heaven were really like this, I'd be a lot more eager for salvation.
	05 One of three, count 'em, three, Little Miss Muffett ornaments...
	06 ...because nothing says Holiday Cheer quite like a little blonde girl running screaming from a pipe-cleaner spider. (The third LMM ornament's just like this one.)
	07 Tennis-playing Santa. Enough said, really.
	08 One of two gnome ornaments...
	09 ...because no one ever hesitated to indulge my childhood obsessions. (Alas, the unicorn ornament, from more or less the same era, died a peaceful death a few years ago.)
	10 I thought this one was so glamorous, with its sophisticated color scheme of gold and aqua. Truth to tell, I still think it's glamorous. Also, I like the way the gnome is looking consideringly at this one. I think he thinks it's glamorous too.
	11 The blood-dipped mutant albino reindeer. Who doesn't have one of these, right?
	12 This ornament actually belongs to my cat, Alex, who I had to put down a couple of years ago. Flannery has one too, although my mother has long since decided that our pets probably don't really need ornaments of their own.
	13 The top-hatted, trumpet-playing satin goose. Many's the morning I've been woken up by a flock of these guys outside my windows. They seem to prefer Louis Armstrong.
	14 My grandmother gave to me or else made about half the ornaments on my tree. She made all three of these, which happen to be hanging next to each other.
	15 She also made the angel on top of the tree.