Trending
Angie the Angel has returned. She's back at the top of our Christmas tree where she belongs. Angie is a plastic cherub illuminated by a single light bulb. She is more than 50 years old, but she's aged well. She was passed down to my husband from his family who named her Angie probably before he was even born.
Angie has survived an assortment of floods in her early years in her then-South Wheeling home and again when the family home on Boggs Run in Benwood was flooded in the early 1970s.
Since then, Angie has been packed and unpacked at three of our own homes. She became a special tradition at Christmastime. Traditions are important to keep families tied to what makes them families.
Last year, Angie began to show some wear and tear. It was disheartening but we did not lose hope that she would be with us another year. I made a trip to the Christmas store down at the Teachers' Store location in Center Wheeling. If you've never been inside the Christmas store, you don't know what you are missing.
It's a true step back into time with its various displays, lights and unique ornaments. It is a holy land in its own right.
It was there among the various shelves and bins that I found the proper lighting and wiring that we needed to bring Angie to her full illumination. With a bit of invisible tape to add to her winged body, Angie was saved once again.
Over the years, I have found many angels among us. Many of them are no longer here with us on earth, but reminders of them are as close as the branches on our holiday tree. There are colorful beaded and velvet ornaments created by the loving hands of Aunt Mary and Grandma Ziegler. My mother-in-law June Ziegler also presented us with several handmade, cross-stitched ornaments that are on the tree each year,
As we unpack these family treasures, we recall with a tinge of sadness the perfectly wonderful holiday celebrations with parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and friends along the way. There are memories of delicious oyster stew at Aunt Mocky's and the untold number of delectable Christmas cookies made by so many.
There are plastic Santas and a metal Nativity scene.
We have fun recalling the craziness of my parents' home on Christmas Eve when we helped uncover the many gifts for my younger siblings and placed them under the Christmas tree. We even collected some bicycles from a neighbor's house where my mother had hidden them for the two youngest of my siblings. We rode them to my parents house in the snow!
There were many different traditions and customs between our families, each of which was cherished. My mother rarely wrapped gifts but placed each family’s presents in large, black garbage bags. She may have wrapped a few items - usually in newspaper comics. Then there were my mother-in-law's professionally-wrapped gifts. Some of you might remember her when she worked at the gift wrap desk at Stone and Thomas department store.
Now new generations are carving out their own traditions and making memories to keep. To each and every one, I wish you will always have an Angie or other angels to share in your holidays. Merry Christmas!
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.