Old ornaments evoke memories

Nostalgia can have a powerful pull on us at any time, but it’s particularly strong this time of year. We look at all the decorations around town, and around the tree in our own home, and we are immediately transported back to childhood.

Companies like Old World Christmas and Christopher Radko have recreated ornaments and decorations from the past; fragile blown-glass pieces as delicate as a soap bubble, that remind us of what hung on our grandmother’s tree.

Karen Hudson wrote to tell me about her collection of vintage Christmas decorations, and it was through those reproductions that her passion for the real thing grew.

“A friend introduced me to Old World Christmas in 1995,” Hudson wrote. “I ended up with a big collection. Then I started seeing things on eBay and in antique stores and estate sales that reminded me of my childhood so naturally I had to have those things.”

Hudson searches for treasures year-round.

“Sometimes the stuff just finds me,” she wrote. “I have been given things by people who want their vintage items to have a good home.”

Now Hudson’s tree is decorated with her collection of vintage things including bubble lights and novelty lights from the 1930s and ‘40s.

When she realized a friend also collects vintage holiday items, a new way to celebrate was born.

“Last year we started a tradition of sending each other a box of Christmas goodies either from our own collections, or things we have bought,” she wrote.

Like most people who love old things, Hudson sees beauty in the scuffs and scars on each piece.

“The vintage items have an old-time beauty and charm that we will never see again in our culture,” she wrote. “The only problem is my collection has taken on a life of its own.”