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Last year, the Life staff shared favorite holiday memories. This year, we share the special meaning a favorite holiday decoration or ornament holds for each of us.

Decorations, ornaments carry special meaning.

Date published: 12/24/2004

By Lucia Anderson

Y GRANDMOTHER was an extremely talented crafter. She sewed, did needlepoint, painted. She died more than a decade ago, but each Christmas, her handiwork still decorates my Christmas tree.

But my favorite ornament from Nana isn't one she made.

It looks sort of like a sunburned gingerbread man, with red yarn hair, and white gloves and boots.

Each year my mother chastises me, saying, "with all the beautiful ornaments Nana made, I can't believe you like that one best."

I got him when I was about 5; my sister got his mate, a similarly adorned girl ornament.

I loved him instantly.

Now, almost 30 years later, my parents save him out each year and let me hang him on a prominent tree branch.

When I was little, I guess I just thought he was funny. Now, he reminds me of the purity of Christmases past, of my grandmother, of the special way the holiday should make you feel.

My mom tried to give the little man to me a couple years ago, to hang on my tree, but I insisted he stay on theirs.

For me, Christmas wouldn't feel the same without him.

--Laura L. Hutchison, editor

We were married 40 years ago today. Sadly, Andy got to celebrate only 19 of those anniversaries. He died suddenly in May 1984.

But he's here in spirit, every Christmas, when I unwrap the little wooden sailor from its place among the tree ornaments. The sailor's happy smile and confident step evoke memories of my husband, glasses pushed up on his head, attired in a paint-smeared sweatshirt, as he whittled away at the little wooden figures he loved to make.

He had a workshop down in the basement where he'd sit for hours, listening to "All Things Considered" on NPR or "Wild Kingdom" on TV while he carved, then painted his creations.

He got ideas for his figures from all sorts of places. We'd go to craft shows and see what other people had done. The mail-order catalogs were full of inspiration. Andy would look at what others had done, then change the original into his own design. The little sailor is a variation on a flat painted ornament cut out of plywood. Andy's is three-dimensional, brimming with personality.

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Date published: 12/24/2004