Favorite Christmas Ornaments

When I was a kid I remember going to my piano teacher Mrs. Young's house for piano lessons.  The highlight of going to Mrs. Young's house was that they had a sod roof that included trees and bushes on what was an otherwise normal house.  It was so unusual.  There was one time of year when the sod roof wasn't the highlight; however, that time was Christmas.  Mrs. Young had the most amazing Christmas Tree every year.  It was so full of ornaments that one could barely even see that there was a tree underneath.  Every year, she let her students choose one ornament off her tree to take home and keep.  I remember sitting and waiting for my turn for lessons and just staring at the tree in a Christmas daze trying to decide which ornament I would call my own.  

Unfortunately, I don't think I still own any of the ornaments I received from Mrs. Young, but the memory is a good one.  It is one of the things I love about putting up the Christmas tree every year.  We get the ornaments out and most of them have stories that goes along with them. Over the years, like most others I presume, our family has collected Christmas ornaments; some are family ornaments and some are personal.  Here are a few of my favorite Christmas ornaments:

10.  Ornaments made by my kids.  I love these because as my children grow up these ornaments remind me of when they were younger.  One of my daughters learned to knit and was a part of a Knitting club at school when whe made the knit cup with hot chocoalte and marshmallows.  I thought and still do that this was so cool.  My other daughter made the art in the center of this ornament at school and then they mounted it on the silver backing.  

9.  Ornaments to remember those who we have lost.  One year when my wife lost her dad, we were given this ornament.  It is a nice reminder of  him, but also just a good reminder of all those who we've lost over the years.  I didn't get to spend many Christmas holidays with him, but the ornament reminds me of those times.  

8.  Ornaments that my kids will eventually take with them.  I don't know that I have ever bought an ornament for my kids with the thought that they will eventually take them with them when they move out, but that is what will happen.  There is something inside of me that looks forward to visiting my daughters' homes sometime in the future and seeing some of the ornaments that used to hang in my house.  I really like this one of Rapunzel from the animated film Tangled.  The scene in the movie that is depicted is is quite beautiful.  I also liked the symbolic nature that it is a lantern lighting the night.  I have always liked to believe that both of my daughters have bright futures ahead.  

7.  Ornaments that remind me of an accomplishment.  Not much to say about this one.  The ornament says it all, but I will never forget when I was about to complete my first marathon, a coach was running alongside me and to encourage me to finish strong, he said, "You are about to finish a marathon and no one can ever take that away from you."  This ornament that my wife bought me that year reminds me of that ever year.  

6.  Ornaments that show loyalty or allegiance.  I have several of these including an ornament from the college my wife and I graduated, the church I attended as a child, and an ornament from the town which I grew up.  I like those but they don't come close to finding a prominent spot on the tree as the ornament that lets everyone know my favorite sports team! 

5. Ornaments of Pop Culture.  Actually, my next four ornaments are in this category, and they have their own, special tree.  Number 5 is a new ornament to the collection this year.  It is a Funko Spider-man.  Spider-man has been my favorite comic book superhero since I can remember.  If you want a full explanation of why I love Spidey's comic book, you should become a patreon supporter of CWK Pourover and you can listen to several episodes where I discuss that topic with co-hosts Dan Zehr and Cory Club.  

4. Ornaments of Pop Culture.  This was my first Star Wars ornament from a Hallmark collection.  The Darth Vader tie-fighter comes from the 1999 collection.  The ornament has a cord that used to plug into an emply light socket, and it would light up the cockpit and laser cannons on the front.  It was a really dynamic ornament on my tree for years, but when I upgraded to LED lights, the plug was no longer compatible.  That is quite alright, as it is still in the top 5 of my favorite ornaments.  

3.  Ornaments of Pop Culture.  I have no idea when or where I found this Zeb Orrelios ornament.  I suspect I found it at a Hallmark aisle display at Kohls.  I always liked Zeb in the Star Wars Rebels show, and I always thought I would find other Rebel characters to hang on the tree with Zeb, but I never did.  So, he is a unique character to have on the tree which is why he is in the top 5 of my favorite ornaments.  It is also a really good sculpt and paint job; it looks great on the tree.  

2.  Ornaments of Pop Culture.  I received this ornament for my birthday this year, because it is no secret around my house how much I absolutely adore the character Grogu.  In fact, I'm not alone in this at my house; everyone thinks he is cute.  It is very possible that he has become the single most popular figure of my Star Wars collection.  As I look around my office, I have nine Grogu collectibles within sight.  This ornament is a Funko, and I love how it excentuates his already large ears, so cute!  Oh, there are already two other Grogu ornaments on the tree, so he has good company.  

1.  Ornaments that have family significance.  This is the ornament I look forward to seeing every year.  It holds such a significant memory for me that if it went missing, it would cause me some profound saddness.  My wife and I purchased this when we took our family on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation on a Disney Cruise.  I will never forget the emotional moment I had when my family was on the plane to fly to Florida for this wonderful adventure.  I sat there as the plane quickly gained altitude thinking that this was actually real.  It was the first trip I had taken my family that was more than two-and-a-half hours away.  It is a trip that we still look at pictures and recall the memories as if they just happened.  This ornament brings that entire trip back.  

I hope as you prepare for the Christmas season that you are able to pull ornaments out to hang on the tree and you have the same experience I do with all the stories and memories.  Hopefully, you have ornaments that remind you of people you love and places you've been.  If not, that's cool too as many ornaments are there to remind us of the joy of the season!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  

Welcoming Friday Favorites!

I'm starting a new monthly post of Friday Favorites!  This will be a series of Top 5 or Top 10 of some of my favorites in a variety of topics, and they will appear on the second Friday of the month.  

Some of these lists are inspired by the discussions I have with the most excellent Dan Zehr and Cory Clubb on the podcast CWK Pourover.  If you are ever up for some great conversation with an even more wonderful community of listeners and participants, check out this fun group.  We can sometimes be pretty serious, but most of the time craziness ensues for some great laughs.  Some of these Top 5 lists come from conversations with my daughters.  I often pose this question on car rides or at dinner, "What are your Top 5..?"  Most of the time that question is met with eye-rolling, but sometimes clarity and meaning come from those moments.

Anyway, to kick-off the first Friday Favorites, here are my Top 5 Mobile Apps: 

5. Marvel Unlimited - 10,000 Marvel comics at my fingertips?!?!?  Yes, please.  I can download 10 at a time when I don't plan to be connected to wifi for a while.  Take a look at my 2021 Personal Stats posts to see how often I use this app.  I can tell you, my library grows a lot faster than my consumption.  At least they don't stack up next to my reading chair!  

4. Twitter - This is my favorite way to keep in quick contact with everyone and to keep my ear to the ground of what is going on in my favorite communities.  It is my most wide-open social media in that I follow the largest groups of people and organizations.  All my other social media is much tighter and curated in what I follow.  Twitter is my ear to the ground.  

3. Instagram - Instagram and Twitter would have been tied for my consumption time until my family introduced me to Instagram Reels.  Those have caught my fancy.  I laugh, ogle at the cute animals, and am amazed at some of the dancing talent!  Oh, then there is the Instagram feed.  I love the visual aspect of Instagram; it allows me a quick view of the groups and people I enjoy.  It is a much tighter group than Twitter and Facebook. 

2. Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes - I just love games. I somehow found a good group of people to join who are super positive and help each other out.  There is something I have just enjoyed about the challenge of collecting heroes and villains of the Star Wars Galaxy, powering them up, and creating odd teams to do the fighting.  I probably dedicate 30-45 mintues a day building up my characters, ships and profile on this game.  

1. Topps card trading apps - I realize that this is kind of cheating (my blog my rules), but of the four Topps apps that I collect, at least one of them would always be number one with my phone apps.  I have told the story many times, but I will never forget my first introduction to Topps Digital cards.  I was at the Indiana Comic Con with my Coffee with Kenobi friends, Dan Zehr and Cory Club, when they introduced me to the Star Wars Card Trader app.  This led me to discover Marvel Collect, Bunt and Disney Collect.  I collect, trade and drool over these cards.  I am in real trouble when all four apps have sets I am chasing at the same time.  It happens...often...

These and other apps can be really consuming, and I just wanted to be clear that I most certainly do use the Digital Wellbeing function that my phone offers.  I limit the time I spend on each app every day, and the Wellbeing feature will just shut the app down once I reach the time allotted.  Please do me and yourself a favor and set those boundaries, because these apps are awesome, but so are the face-to-face people in our lives.  

New Magic the Gathering set in D&D!!

I started playing Magic the Gathering and collecting the cards about 12 years ago when I fell in love with the art and the fun text on the cards.  I played for several years, then moved on still attracted to the art on the cards.  My attention has returned to this great game as Magic the Gathering is now bringing a Dungeons and Dragons set "Adventures in the Forgotten Realms."  

There is so much I want to say about this that I will save for when I actually have the cards in hand, but once again the art is pulling me back.

One notable example of this is the Legendary Creature card that has the iconic character Drizzt Do'urden.  Anyone who has listened to the podcast CWK Pourover, will know that Drizzt Do'urden is my favorite fictional character of ALL literature I have read.  So, when in mid-May the original art for the Drizzt Do'Urden painting by Tyler Jacobson sold, I wasn't surprised at the price.  According to the MTG Art Market, the original painting for the card sold for $155,000.  It is a beautiful card with Drizzt and his magical companion panther Gwenhuvar leaping into battle.  

My fear with such interest in this set and the price of the original art is that the card will be impossible for ordinary MTG players (like myself) to attain.  I have no idea what the production rate of this card will be, but we have seen what secondary markets can do to trading card game assets like this.  My fear, however, leads to the excitement of more people discovering not only Drizzt Do'Urden but Dungeons and Dragons overall.  I hope this crossover brings MTG players into the role-playing game.  D&D has been slowly bringing Magic the Gathering into its lore with a couple settings books, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros which I'm sure has brought D&D players to the MTG tables.  This collaboration makes a lot of sense, and I am really surprised that it has taken this long,.  Both of these games have long-standing players with a little crossover players, but this effort, I believe, will bring many of us together.  

Bottom line: this is an exciting time for both D&D and MTG players.  Keep an eye out for announcements from the Wizards of the Coast about this set which is to release on July 23.