Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Barnes
I first met Elizabeth Barnes just after she and her husband George Knapp and two charming daughters moved to the neighborhood. She was googling the CWE and came across this blog—we've been friends ever since.
When I asked for help with this year's holiday blog posts, Elizabeth was more than willing to share her families' Christmas traditions, starting with the wreath drapped with antique beads and pine cones that hangs on their front door.
Elizabeth considers their Christmas tree, above, to be a "work of art" and loves reliving memories as each ornament goes up. She's been collecting ornaments since she was fifteen, ever since her best friend at the time made a snowman ornament for her, below.
Elizabeth said that the adorable handmade snowman has gotten pride of place for the past thirty years on her Christmas tree, right.
The family loves to collect ornaments from their travels, including an ornament from Bali, left.
The Barnes/Knapp collection also reflects the family's interests, including daughter Isabelle's love of ballet, right. See the post on Isabelle just before she danced the role of a toy soldier in the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker last year. She danced the same role in the Missouri Ballet's production at the Edison Theater earlier this week.
The ornament, above, commemorates the couple's first Christmas together.
The last photograph shows daughter Caroline's first birthday ornament. Elizabeth said that she and George have given every new baby in their family a silver bell ornament on their first Christmas. The ornament is engraved with the baby's name, the words "First Christmas," and the year. They hope that the children, and cousins, carry their ornaments on to their own trees with happy memories.
Thank you so much Elizabeth for sharing this beautiful ornament collection and the stories behind each one. I so appreciate your contribution to our virtual holiday house tour. Merry Christmas!