MY KIDDIES ARCH OF FAME

It started with our first child, Amy, when both my Mom and I bought identical "1987 Baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments. Then each year since then, I've continued to buy an ornament for each child. I tried at first to buy a certain series - Mary's Angels for Amy; Teddy bears for Molly; carousel horses for Libby. But either the series ran out or money was too tight to opt for the more expensive Hallmark ornament. Nevertheless, each year brought an ornament that in some way reflected the child.

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One of the drawbacks with a lot of these ornaments was the weight! And after 3 children and 16 years, I noticed that there was very little room on the tree for my growing collection of special ornaments. So, one way to solve those problems was to put the ornaments in a special place. A second tree wasn't a solution for us. But we happened to have some fake tree boughs and lots of doorways. Thence was born the children's arch! My Ex used to complain about the staple holes in the woodwork and/or plaster. I feel that a few holes are nothing compared to celebrating and highlighting the growth and passage of each of my babies.

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Here's this year's arch, one of the first things you see as you enter the house. Amy's ornaments run along the top, Molly's are down the right side, and Libby's down the left.

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Here are some of the ornaments beginning with, of course, our first little "angel", Amy. My Ex and I didn't have a lot of money; but we did take the girls on one very special summer vacation to Cape Breton. The ornaments with their names on them are from that trip.

Scattered among her special angel ornaments are others that show things like her love of shopping and the diva on the telephone!

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Molly was always the quiet, gentle little one. (At 19, she's now trying out her wings by not so much cutting the apron strings as ferociously wrenching them away from me! Not so gentle anymore! Still, she's learning to fly on her own.) But she's still soft and (sometimes) cuddly like a Teddy bear.

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And Libby was always the one who performed and made everyone laugh.

It's been more difficult to find a series of ornaments for her; so she has a mixture of little things. But a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to find these 2 "Libby's Travels" ornaments.

And this little mouse somehow made me think of her -- although she's neither quiet nor timid!

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I've mentioned a couple of times to the girls that they're getting too old now for me to keep collecting ornaments for them. But they wouldn't hear tell of that!

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Until they have homes of their own and/or request their ornaments, they hang at home as a wonderful reminder of my beautiful children.