Some of us are old enough to remember when our parents used to have those horrid thread balls. They always started unraveling, and if had a cat... good luck! My mother bought them in bulk in the late 80's, and they hang on, til the last one was finally thrown out by the time we celebrated Christmas in the 90's. Thankfully, tradition won out, and the shiny 'glass' balls made a comeback. I have tried themes. Gold, silver, even blue ball themed Christmas tree's. I always however come back to green and red, the color most colors associated with Christmas.
Not everyone got into the 'fad' of buying those horrid thread balls. While our tree was full of them, my grandparents stuck with tradition. Not only did they have shiny glass balls, but big balls, bigger than anything you could find in the stores. I used to love visiting the at Christmas, and seeing ornaments so large, and so fragile, we were never allowed to touch or hang on the tree. When my last grandparent died, the only thing I wanted was one or two of those old ornaments, but sadly a greedy cousin of mine, took them and refused to share with the rest of us.
I have written a lot lately, how certain props, locations and even colors can trigger memories, especially in art. While going through Alwin's (Fotorebelxt Photography) holiday images, those memories of my grandparents Christmas tree came flooding back. Alwin's imagery always brings me joy, especially his creative and colorful way of capturing the male form. I am not sure if it's coincidence or not... but each of Alwin's Christmas elf's are sporting a beard... Not sure if it's a sign of things to come, or if they're all Santa's in training, but either way, they seem to very natural holding thier big red Christmas balls.
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