Thursday Thirteen - 136 - 13 of My Favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments

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This is one of the first Christmas ornaments I ever bought for myself. I love her as much today as the first time she took my breath away when I saw her in the store over at Halifax Shopping Center.


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You will see a rather strong ballet theme among my Christmas ornaments. This Sugar Plum Fairy was another of the first ornaments I bought for myself when I worked my first job at the Halifax Simpson's in the Candy and Pastry department. I found her over at the competition, Eaton's. Simpson's and Eaton's are now things of the past, but those memories come along with this ballerina when she comes out of her wrapping.


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These two ornaments come from Toronto, where I lived in my 20's and midway into my 30's. I bought the Christmas Fairy with gift money from my brother-in-law, Jeff, and I bought the Mouse King at the Ballet Boutique at the theatre where I used to work, during one of the runs of The Nutcracker.


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This is one of a motherlode of gorgeous ornaments my husband Brad spoiled me with, several Christmases ago. He got them at Crabtree & Evelyn, which used to be a favorite store to gaze into, though I was incredibly allergic to the fragrance in the stores themselves.


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This is a stuffed Snowman from Raymond Briggs' animated special which my sister gave me. We love The Snowman.

Beside him is another little snowman from my Best Friend Forever, Connie.


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This is one of a trio of glass birds given to me when I worked as a live-in nanny in Toronto for the woman who became my dear friend Donna.


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This Waltz of the Flowers ballerina was sent to me by my mother-in-law in a Toronto-to-Halifax Christmas postal delivery.


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This is one of my early, just-moved-to-Toronto ornaments. Pierrots and Harlequins are big faves of mine, and I need a Harlequin for Act One from The Nutcracker, when Drosselmeyer winds up his toys for the children's party.

He's hanging out with a Christmas version of Raggedy Anne and Andy, which is actually a keychain I bought at the dollar store where I worked when we lived in Yarmouth for a few years. And beside him is the Charlie-in-the-Box from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Brad and I stumbled onto a whole set of these collectible figures at Winners here in Halifax a few years ago, for a totally crazy price.


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This is a clear Ice ballerina from the Snow Kingdom whom Clara meets following the battle between the Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King. Mom gave her to me for my first Yarmouth Christmas, when I was missing my job at the ballet so terribly. Beside her is a silver ballerina I bought a few years ago to be another dancer from the Snow Kingdom.


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This golden ballerina was part of a set along with the silver dancer. She's from the Sugar Plum Fairy's kingdom. The Snowflake Fairy is from the Snow Kingdom part of The Nutcracker - I found her at Park Lane in Halifax a few years ago. As you can see, my Christmas is completely entwined with The Nutcracker.


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I have a few Nutcracker decorations which aren't for the tree. I bought this wooden Nutcracker early on, before my move to Toronto. But of course he came there with me. The egg was an anniversary present to me from Brad, and stands in for the beautiful Faberge egg set in The National Ballet of Canada's version which can be seen at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. The Gingerbread Lady is part of a salt & pepper shaker set my mother-in-law was selling at an outdoor antiques market in Ontario. When I obviously loved it, she took it off the table and gave it to me.


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Of course, for me Christmas is also tied to the Rankin Bass TV specials from my childhood, like Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, featuring Fred Astaire's Special Delivery man.


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I also love blown glass ornaments like this seahorse I bought last year at Historic Properties in Halifax.

Every year I buy myself a new ornament - sometimes two. Not everything makes it onto the tree because I'd need half a dozen trees for every ornament to make it onto a branch. That might be in my future. Who knows?

My mom's tree is up and decorated upstairs, and Brad and I will get our tree up this weekend. All of these shots were taken of last year's tree. Is yours up? And what is your own favorite ornament?

Janet says Love the bird! I have a few of those, too :-)

Journeywoman says Love the Fred Astaire one.

Adelle Laudan says When I suggested we get a set of matching decorations next year, my girls gasped in horror lol