Ornamental

This is one of my favorite ornaments, because of its story- not because of its old-fashioned charm. It used to belong to friends of ours, Roberta and Don. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.) Don proposed to Roberta in a hot air balloon. When they landed, she was bursting to tell someone the news-- but Don had already let everyone in on it before they went up. They were excited for her, but she didn't get to break the news right away. Don gave this to Roberta for their first Christmas after they were married.

When Mr. Midnight and I moved from our graduate school apartment, our Christmas decorations were lost somehow. One Sunday before Christmas Mr. Midnight mentioned during church that we had lost our decorations, including the one we had bought on our honeymoon and ones given to us by our parents. Many people gave us ornaments after that, many of them looking as if they were ones that would have been discarded if not given to us. You know, the kind you find at garage sales (or tag sales, or boot sales, or whatever you call them in your corner of the universe). But Don and Roberta gave us this one, from their first Christmas. Our kids are probably sick of this story, because we tell it every Christmas when we hang the balloon.


(By the way, I took this with my new camera. I love having a camera with a macro setting.)