Find Beauty - Day 10

Oops, I went to bed without posting this last night. It was all typed and ready to go but I got distracted and forgot to hit publish. I guess I was more tired than I realized. I have adjusted the posting date to show as it should have been.

Today I wanted to follow up a little bit on a post from a couple days ago about Christmas decorations. I decided last year to take photos of all the ornaments we have because so many of them are from special people in our lives or are traditional gifts that we give to the kids each year and I wanted to document those stories in an album. So as I was taking the ornaments off the tree last year I photographed each one. Of course, that was a year ago and I have yet to DO anything with those photos but I HAVE them so that I can do something. So this year I only had to photograph the new ornaments we received.

Mostly it was the kids who got new stuff this year. Over the years my mom has found fun or funky ornaments that she has given to Matt and I but this year she was short on shopping time and did not find anything that really "did it" for her. I totally get that. But there is one set of ornaments that I treasure. Every year since I was in my teens, my Aunt has given each of the nieces and nephews a glass raindrop. These come in different colors and in two different sizes. They, literally, are just drops of colored glass but they are among my most favorite ornaments. They are beautiful in their simplicity and the tradition behind them. This year's drop is red. Sadly, the company that made these ornaments has gone out of business and this was the last one we will get.

The other ornaments that brought me a great deal of pleasure are these two that I received from my friend Carolyn. Carolyn is an "internet friend" from the other web community I go to, Dotties Weight Loss Zone. I have been a member there for years. I visit a lot of forums when I have time but there is one that I visit nearly every day. That forum is called We Can. We have a very tight knit group of regulars there that I count among my dearest friends. Like any web community we are spread far and wide. Like on Scrapshare, this is one of those places where you can meet and talk with so many people of different backgrounds and it is wonderful. The last two years the We Can group has done an ornament exchange. This year my giver was someone who ironically lives only an hour from me. We have met in person once and I would love to get together with her again when the stars align and we both have time. The ornaments she sent me prove that she knows me so well. They are beautiful and wonderful on their own but they are also beautiful and wonderful because of what they represent, friendship.

Until tomorrow......