Wes and I started the tradition of having a Native American Christmas tree on our third Christmas after we were married...this was thirty five years ago! There really were not the ornaments available at that time that you see nowadays, so we made our own....I found a recipe for dough that you could "build" your ornaments with, and then it baked hard....we created our own Kachina ornaments that year, complete with sash belts and rattles...the works....all brightly painted and quite unique! We used them for years, adding to them as we would see actual Native American ornaments...we also made lots of brightly colored Ojo de Dios "Eyes of God" that were popular in the 70's.....over the years, we have picked up special ornaments from various potters, and beaders, and carvers....and our original little dough kachinas have been weeded out one by one as some have crumbled...or are missing their rattles, feathers, etc. But we do have them saved in our "Wounded Warriors" box, gently wrapped in tissue and tucked away safely...they are something I could never part with...too many memories of very happy times....sometime I will pull them out and do a post on just them! As Wes and I decorated the tree this year, we reminisced about years past and certain ornaments on the tree...when Phyllis and Liz were younger they would fight over who got to hang the little beaded girls and pretty yarn dolls on the tree...heavens...there were plenty of them, and by the time we finished, they were tired of doing it...but it always started out with a fight over who got to put the "dolls" on the tree! Our tree today, has an assortment of beaded men and ladies, pottery bells and angels, fetishes and kachinas, painted gourds, miniature Hopi rattles, Cochiti drums, Santo Domingo Storytellers...and much more....each one has a story, and I feel very peaceful and happy as I sit and gaze at a lifetime of memories on our very special Native American Christmas tree!
