What Makes an Ornament an Heirloom?

 What Makes an Ornament an Heirloom?
Each Christmas as I place my collection of Christmas ornaments on the tree, I think of the various ornaments that my grandmother Rebecca Rugg Miner would hang on her large fresh cut pine tree. My grandmother had beautiful ornaments of hand-strung beads. The beads were of various sizes and colors, shaped by wire into birdhouses, crosses, and stars. The glass balls would click softly as they were placed on the tree. She had snowflakes made of brightly colored thicker aluminum sheets that rustled as they were hung on the branch tips. There were hand-blown glass balls; some frosted, some mirrored, and some of see-through glass that nestled in the bare niches of the tree. Although I don’t have any of my grandmother’s treasures, I can see the images of that bright kaleidoscope in my mind’s eye.
I have ornaments that are my heirlooms and will be passed along to my children. Some will probably be given to my grandchildren. These are the ornaments that my children and grandchildren have made, such as photos and handmade decorations with their faces or writing that peek back from the branches of my tree. Hopefully these heirlooms will be added to their memory and be cherished to them as they are to me.
When my kids were growing up, my wife Cindy Morrison Beck and I bought each child a new Christmas ornament. As they grew older and were able to handle them safely, they became responsible to hang, remove, and store them. Their ornaments were kept separate and stored from year to year. When they married, those decorations went with them to their new home. They carried a bit of the Christmas tradition with them and started a Christmas tradition there.
So, what makes an ornament an heirloom? Is it the item’s condition of preservation? Is it the length of time that it has existed? Is it an heirloom because of the craftsmanship or from what it’s been made? I believe it’s something more fragile than glass or even paper. It’s the memories that were created and still cling to the ornament. May your Christmas be filled with heirlooms, Merry Christmas.