(no subject)

[rivka]

Ben and I just got home from the grocery store to find curiousangel holding up the Christmas tree, shards of silvered glass strewn across the living room floor.

We decorated it this afternoon. It looked beautiful, and then it fell.

Ben and Michael got the tree securely back into its stand. I swept up the broken ornaments, and cried while I did it. My gorgeous, vibrant glass gecko wearing a santa hat - broken. One of the first ornaments I ever owned myself - a real blown egg, painted deep purple, with a tiny cityscape and a tiny flying Santa's sleigh within intricately worked silver and blue borders - broken. The clear glass globe hand-painted with a drawing of our church - broken. The set of old-fashioned colored glass Santas we bought for our first tree together - all broken. Half of the tiny holly balls - broken.

It's miraculous, I guess, how many things didn't break. The little stained-glass angel choir and the matching stained-glass dove of peace are okay. The long, heavy, blue glass icicles Ben gave me were thick enough not to break. Miraculously, the two antique glass ornaments which belonged to my grandparents were unbroken - the glass peacock was even still on the tree, because it clips on rather than hanging. And the irreplacable little red glass ornament heavily hand-glittered with the name "Mike N" in childish letters - not broken.

It's a gorgeous tree, it really is. If I'd been along on the trip to pick it out, I would've said it was too big - but Michael and Ben went by themselves, and they came back with an eight foot tall, enormously full Douglas Fir. It dominates the living room so much that we had to rearrange all of the furniture. We had to buy more lights. Its fragrance fills the room. It really is a beautiful, beautiful tree.

We haven't redecorated yet. The ornaments are sitting in little piles on the rocking chair, on the steps, on the dining room table. Right now I don't really feel like putting them back up.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so sorry. That sounds heartbreaking.

[geekchick]

Oh, that's heartbreaking. =( I'm sorry that so many of the ornaments got broken, but glad that at least a couple of the irreplaceable ones were saved.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

We haven't redecorated yet. The ornaments are sitting in little piles on the rocking chair, on the steps, on the dining room table. Right now I don't really feel like putting them back up.

I know. I was upstairs when it went down, and my first thought as I raced down to see what happened was something like, "If I can get it back upright, it'll all be OK", and then I found myself needing to be able to hold the tree, adjust the stand, and take care of the ornaments all at once. All I could really do was hold it with one hand to keep it from falling again, but I frantically picked out everything I could to make sure that we didn't lose any more.

It's the love and the memories that are most important, though, and we'll always have those. We'll find more ornaments and make more of them, too, through the years to come, and each tree will be different and wonderful in its own unique way.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's the love and the memories that are most important, though, and we'll always have those. We'll find more ornaments and make more of them, too, through the years to come, and each tree will be different and wonderful in its own unique way.

Okay, now I'm crying again. I love you so much.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Oh, no. I'm so sorry.

(I'm glad Ben is here, though.)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I wanted to say "yay for Ben being here," but . . . well. :)

[boxofdelights]

Oh! That's hard. Would it be insensitive or kind if friends were to send you new ornaments?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Awww. It would be kind, but totally optional - I think we still have enough that the tree won't look bare.

But if you want to, gosh. Our address is here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/rivka/130308.html).

[elynne.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I was thinking - I'll send it as soon as I've put it together. :] *hughughug*

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what I'm going to stitch, but as you know, Bob, it might not get there before Xmas. (I take comfort in the fact that the Magi were two *years* late!)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Aw, man. *big hugs*

[claire.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Oh darling, I'm so sorry. What an awful loss.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry. As others have said, I'm glad Misha was able to save some of the ornaments, but I hate that you lost so many. (This is in no way a statement of blame, you understand.)

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh, dear. I'm glad some of the most precious and irreplaceable are still okay. I remember crying bitterly when the last present my father ever bought me was stolen.

Does your tree have a theme? Is it mostly glass, or is it just the the glass ones were the majority of the broken ones?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's not mostly glass, fortunately, or it would be mostly broken. We've got a mix of things, ranging from a weird kitschy plastic-bead winter scene from Michael's childhood (so bizarrely unhip that it has become hip again) to these sleek heavy modern glass icicles Ben gave me. No preferred color, no preferred style. Not all of them are even pretty - there's an orange-and-white plastic ball with the University of Tennessee logo, for example. (It didn't break.)

If my grandparents' ornaments had broken, I would really be falling to pieces right now. But I mourn my painted egg so much.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

If you could show me a picture of it...no, it wouldn't be the same, having a pale-echo copy, would it? But now that I know that your ornament collection isn't restricted in scope (I'd have been surprised if it was, knowing you and Misha) ...

If you have most of the pieces of your broken egg...I have some ideas for what could be done with it, if it wouldn't be too awful to see the remains.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We've already thrown out the shards.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I figured as much. Probably full of all sort of ick in addition to glass.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

Oh, argh. That's frustrating. *hug*

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry, Rivka. That would be heartbreaking. *hugs* for you and curiousangel. And it's good that Ben is there, too.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry. :-(

[saoba.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweetie, I am SO sorry. Look for an ornament from Nashville TN heading your way by Monday.

It won't replace what's gone, but someday there will be a tree and you can say 'and these are the ones friends sent us the year our tree fell and we lost some of our precious ornaments'.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. A bunch of my favorite ornaments were broken on the move east and I didn't think to open the box to check till I was ready to decorate the tree...definitely put something of a damper on the day.

I'm glad there were survivors though.:)

Gessi

[maureenkspeller.livejournal.com]

Oh how dreadful, but let us rejoice for the things that were saved.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

aw, sweetie. i'm sorry. *hug*

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Oh honey, I'm sorry.

The one year my family had a real tree (I was 4), I was sick the whole season possibly with pollen allergies. The tree fell 3 times, taking with it many of my mom's blown glass fruit, Raggedy Ann and Andy globes, and other treasured ornaments.

Mom gave me a few of "my" ornaments when she moved house a few years back, including the surviving Raggedy Ann and Andy ornaments (all 3 of them). I decided to put them on the tree this year, and while I was attaching hooks, one of them slipped its hardware and smashed on the wood floors.

So I can relate to a little, teensy fragment of what you might feel. I'm really sorry.