Ornamentation 2015

Mark has tolerated my hobby of collecting Christmas tree ornaments during our travels. His expression in this picture, taken in a Christmas shop in Oberammergau, Germany pretty much says it all. I'm grateful for his indulgence and happy that he has actually gotten into the hunt as time has passed.

For the past several years, I have published posts about ornaments I have collected, either during the past year or going much further back. This post is about those we have collected this past year. Several were acquired during our trips to Maui during the first six months of 2015.

These beautiful angels will join others I've acquired on Maui and the Big Island over the years.

This is actually a small fan that was woven by a Hawaiian matriarch who sets up shop on the road to Little Beach on Maui.

This Gill figurine will join another one of a young man spearfishing

A present from my sister, acquired during their trip to Amsterdam last summer

A momento of our whale watching excursion out of Anacortes in August while visiting cycling friends.

This year's addition to our collection of Merman ornaments. I've bought one each of the past several years from a shop on Castro Street in San Francisco.

Most of this year's ornaments were acquired on our trip to Europe this past fall. Each one has a story to tell, some more than others.

A miniature mask acquired in Venice

A souvenir of our Dolomite day trip out of Vencie

From Cortina, the skiing and cycling mecca in the heart of the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy

Filled with lavender from the Croatian city of Hvar

We bought the following two ornaments from this woman in Dubrovnik, Croatia. They were hand made by her and her family.

Is it just me, or is the ornament suggestive of something?

This ornament, acquired at Buckingham Palace, commemorates the fact that Elizabeth II because England's longest reigning monarch in 2015.

A couple of Delft ornaments acquired in a shop near Amsterdam's flower market.

I never thought I would ever have an opportunity to visit Rothenburg, the Christmas capital of Germany, if not the world. I acquired several ornaments there, as well as in Oberammergau and Rüdesheim. Going in some of those shops was more than a bit overwhelming.

I purchased these ornaments in Rüdesheim, Germany. They were from a "Bavarian" tree. "Spatzl" is the equivalent of "Schatze" in the Bavarian dialect and means, "Sweetheart" or "Honey." I had to ask the assistance of a clerk to retrieve these two ornaments. I asked for a man ornament which she carefully took off the tree. I then asked for another, to which she responded, "Don't you want a woman?" "No," I replied, "I want a man." Mark came around the corner at that point, and the clerk then understood.

As I look back over the past four years, it's hard to believe that Mark and I have been together for only that amount of time. It seems like 40. We've crammed so much into this short period of time; these ornaments will always remind me of our wonderful trips and this precious time that we have been blessed with.