Broken Ornaments

It seems like every year we break an ornament or two during the holiday season. The one we lost this year was a personalized ornament for one of our dearly departed pets, Annabelle.

Personalized ornaments have been a part of my family’s Christmas tradition since I was a kid. Mom would order an ornament with our name on it from the Miles Kimball catalog. I still have the one she got me when I was born.

Following this tradition, my wife and I have ordered ornaments for all of our family members, including pets. Ironically, it was one of our current pets who knocked the Annabelle ornament off the tree.

As we were packing up the holiday decorations this year, we decided to inventory our collection of these ornaments. We wracked our brains trying to remember the many pets we have had. (That’s not easy when you consider that we have owned 11 dachshunds over our married life!) We discovered that we were missing several.

Gone now are the ornaments for Ben the human, Rusty the dog, Lulu the dog, and Dedric the cat. As I sat down to order replacements for those that are missing, I realized something that shocked me a little. We do not have, nor had we ever ordered ornaments for our current pets; Jack, Luna, Lokie, and Mozzie.

I had been focusing so much on the dead that I had not thought of the living. Isn’t that one of the great tragedies of life? We focus so much on the past that we forget about the here and now. As I write these words, I’m sitting in my easy chair with three dogs on my lap. They are warm and cozy on this snowy winter day. Maybe it’s time to pull up the Miles Kimball website and order ornaments for these lap warmers.

At this point I want to try an experiment. I have often wondered how many people read my newsletter articles. I know a couple of people who read them each week. I know others who have never read them. If you have read this article, can you let me know? You can email, text, or tell me the next time you see me.

Thanks!