Connie Sprenkle, second from right, looks through ornaments with her husband and grandchildren (Photo by Paul Kuehnel)
But for Connie Sprenkle and her family, their Christmas trees are decorated with memories.
Sprenkle of West Manchester Township started buying brass ornaments 25 years ago whenever she and her husband visited someplace new.
When her grandchildren were born, she carried on the tradition of giving them ornaments from places she had been and from places they have traveled to together. Now her four grandkids, ranging in age from 4 to 11, have collected quite a few ornaments from their Nonnie and each has a story behind it.
“These ornaments are memories for them,” said Sprenkle. “It’s not a T-shirt that gets rolled up into a rag and thrown out. It’s not a toy that’s going to break a few weeks after Christmas. It’s something that will last.”
Sprenkle buys ornaments and gives them to her grandkids throughout the year. Their parents pack them away and then bring them out at Christmas.
“I have a 7-foot tree in my living room and it’s absolutely polluted with ornaments,” she said. “The kids can’t keep their hands off them. It creates a lot of conversation … Even if we didn’t take some of those trips together, it’s the education and the stories of all these places that they’ll remember.”
For Sprenkle’s daughter, Abby Clark, decorating the tree is also a time of conversation for her and her four kids.
“It takes us hours to decorate our trees!” said Clark, of Bethany Beach, Del. “We’ll talk about each ornament. I have some from when I was younger. My kids know the stories behind my ornaments … the vacations we took and the special hobbies I had.”
Clark estimates that her kids add 10 ornaments to the tree each year. Some of their special ornaments commemorate trips to Williamsburg and Gettysburg.
“When they see our ornament from Virginia’s Assateague Lighthouse, we talk about the time we climbed all those stairs to the top of the lighthouse,” said Clark. “The kids remember that trip, they’ll remember how tired their legs were after climbing the lighthouse.”
Sprenkle also buys them ornaments that reflect their interests.
“Last year, I took my 4-year-old grandson to Strasburg to see Thomas the Tank Engine,” she said. “I bought him an ornament from that trip. When we pulled that ornament out at Christmas, he was so excited. He remembered the whole story about Thomas and being there with me.”
“When I’m gone, my grandchildren will have something to remember me by,” she added. “They’ll remember being at a place with Nonnie. In this day and age, it’s nice to give something that’s meaningful and will last.”
