The Christmas Season is upon us and it's time I share something very special that I have been working on since last years' holiday season.
Every year since I was a little girl, my Mom's side of the family gathered together to celebrate someone very special, my Grandmother Carol. Her birthday was on December 23rd and when she was born her Mother named her Carol, saying she was her Christmas Carol.
Carol lived up to her name. She was sweet, gentle, detail-oriented, well-dressed, and of course, well-mannered. She allowed the Holy Spirit to live through her, always having this beautiful light in her eyes, a gentle spirit, and a peace that came with her, even in her most anxious moments. She was quiet, yet spunky with her words, and she was someone I would give anything to have just one more ice cream date with.
So when that first Christmas season came around in 2023, where she was no longer with us, and years long past since we had all gathered together to celebrate this sweet Carol's Birthday on December 23rd, I started a tradition of my own.
Her birthday reminds me of poinsettias, whether it was an ornament, place settings, dinnerware, wrapping paper, a sweater my Mom picked out for her to wear, or the colors that filled her countryside home, poinsettias were the theme and the central part of the decor.
Poinsettias symbolize, good cheer, success, and celebration. The star shaped flower symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem. And the red leaves symbolize the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So that tradition I began? I mail my Mom something every year to remember our sweet and beloved Carol on her birthday, something with poinsettias. However, last year sparked my idea to go beyond a single gift in remembrance of Carol, and to create a whole collection and name it, "Carol's Collection."
And so, this year, too many Christmas seasons later, I created Carol's Collection of ornaments. A collection that is small, only 8 ornaments in total. Ornaments with golds (like the jewelry she wore), vanilla (like Ice Cream we shared and the ivory on her sweaters), reds and greens (the colors that my eyes can't unsee that filled her sweet little countryside home), and tied with a red ribbon (the beauty and formal, yet young demeaner my grandmother encompassed).
Carol's Collection of ornaments embraces who she was - something you hold with gentleness & delicacy, painted with layers of details, reminding me of how she dressed even when she was within her home all day, and a sweetness of the season throughout color choices and bright red velvet bows.
It's my hope that Carol's Collection brings you joy for the season as you celebrate with loved ones near, memories of Christmases past, adds a special class to your tree, and a carol within your heart as you sing and rejoice over the greatest gift that came into this world to save us from our sins, born as a baby, The Messiah, Jesus.