Ornaments

If Oprah Winfrey singles out just 13 items as her "favorite things" of 2011, and one of them is yours, it's safe to assume you're going to quickly become very — very — popular. So now is probably not the best time to try to reach Sherry Kendall. Ever since Winfrey raved about Kendall's Christmas ornaments featuring hand-painted pet portraits in December's O, the Oprah Magazine, visits to the Woodbine artist's website have spiked, orders are piling up and the glass balls have appeared on two national TV shows.

When Bob Zealor was growing up in Overlea, he would go into the woods near his home and collect greens to make a wreath for his mother. You can imagine his delight when he discovered Colonial Williamsburg, where all the holiday decorations come from nature. All these years later, the interior designer and his wife Maureen make regular Christmas pilgrimages to Williamsburg, Va., which has become the inspiration for his holiday decorating. "It is homey. It is real. The greens, the fruit.

I think the photo for the "Christmas season events in Catonsville" ( Catonsville Times, Nov. 30) is beautiful. I also enjoyed the article "Santa's arrival another grand occasion," ( Catonsville Times, Nov. 30), describing the community's welcoming Santa Claus at the 18th annual tree lighting. One major item is missing from both articles, which both mention ornaments made by students at Westowne Elementary School. Please give credit where credit is due. The students worked really hard on all of these ornaments.

Wearing warm coats and gloves, fleece hats and reindeer antler headbands, the Neebe sisters of Catonsville came prepared for the cold Saturday during the 19th annual Catonsville Tree Lighting Ceremony. Lauren Neebe, 10, Kathryn Neebe, 6, and their parents, Deb and Mark, said they have never let a little cold weather stop them from attending the Nov. 24 event, which has become an annual family tradition since 1999. "It's just the town thing to do," Deb Neebe said, as she and her daughters patiently waited for the countdown to light the community's tree at the Catonsville Fire Department on Frederick Road.

AS CHRISTMAS DRAWS near, it's easy to be caught up in the shopping, last-minute cooking and general frenzy that the holiday season can bring. It might be difficult to remember the magic of Christmases gone by, when, as a child, your only worry was deciding which present to open first on Christmas morning. But one Carroll County resident needs only to look around his home during the holiday season to be reminded of a calmer, more relaxed time when holiday decorating and celebrations were revered and treated as sacred family traditions.

EACH OF Dione Mahoney's Christmas ornaments conjures up memories when she takes them out of their protective wrapping each year, she says. That is not so unusual, until you hear about the transglobal adventures that some of those memories entail. Mahoney, a children's staff library associate at the branch in Savage, has been collecting Christmas ornaments from around the world for nearly 30 years. She usually hangs them on the family Christmas tree, but this year she is displaying them at the library instead.

Three young men were arrested and charged with stealing Christmas ornaments from the lawns of four houses in the Gamber area Wednesday morning.Brian R. Grimsley, 19, of the 7300 block of Springfield Ave.; Chad R. Clark, 19, of the 6000 block of Oakland Mills Road; and Christopher M. Flora, 18, of the 3400 block of Nottingham Road, were released on personal recognizance after their arrest about 1:15 a.m.State police said they received several calls about...

The small town of Lauscha, deep in a fir tree forest in Germany's Thuringian mountains, is the birthplace of glass Christmas tree ornaments. Entire families have been making them there since the middle of the 19th century. F. W. Woolworth discovered these beautifully crafted ornaments in the 1890s on a toy-buying trip in Germany and ordered some for his original 5- and 10-cent store in Lancaster, Pa. They sold out immediately, and his subsequent orders expanded Lauscha's cottage industry and contributed to Woolworth's own success.

About four years ago, Jeanne Rowell decided she wanted to create a formal Christmas tree decorated entirely with Maryland-themed ornaments for the holiday showroom at Homestead Gardens. She visited various sites that sell ornaments throughout the region, and found that the selection of Maryland-themed decorations was slim. She said she decided that if she couldn't find ornaments to decorate the tree, she would design her own. "I already buy ornaments in Europe every year," she said. "And if you give the glass factories the designs, they will make anything that you want."

Some of the prettiest trees in Christmas shops this season are labeled Victorian. Decorated with lacy, beribboned confections in pastel colors, they are lovely to look at and reminiscent of holidays past. But such ornaments would never have appeared on a Victorian Christmas tree."They have a feminine, boudoir look," says Carolyn Flaherty, editor of Victorian Homes magazine. "Very romantic. But the Victorians were dignified. They never would have had them in their parlors."It's easy enough, though, to duplicate how the Victorians actually decorated -- without spending a lot of money.

Before they could decorate the Town of Manchester's Christmas tree this week, the class of 21 fifth-graders at Manchester Elementary School had one more critical task to perform. "I forgot to put a hole in the ornaments!" admitted Amy Smith, the students' art teacher, with a chuckle. With the help of a parent, hole punchers were passed out and the students quickly punched holes and put the finishing touches - twisty ties - onto the ornaments they use to bring their hometown into the holiday season.

The GFWC Woman's Club of Westminster Inc., has begun sales of its 2012 ornament - this year depicting Baker Memorial Chapel at McDaniel College in Westminster. The ornament depicting Baker Memorial Chapel is the ninth in a series presenting historic buildings in the community of Westminster. Baker Memorial Chapel was dedicated April 20, 1958. The ornaments are $21 each. The ornament sale is a major fund raiser for the Woman's Club of Westminster, which for the last 101 years has provided volunteer service and support to our community.

Charles B. "Charlie" Elder Jr., a retired dispatcher who enjoyed collecting Christmas ornaments, died Saturday of multiple organ failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Hydes resident was 44. Charles Bailey Elder Jr., who was born in Baltimore and raised in Hydes, graduated in 1986 from Dulaney High School. In his youth, he had been active in the Boy Scouts. Mr. Elder attended Widener University in Chester, Pa., and had worked for 15 years as a dispatcher in the Cockeysville office of Alarm Watch, a security company, until last year.

Can I cut back ornamental grasses now? The foliage of ornamental grasses is usually enjoyed throughout winter. Traditionally, it is cut back just before new growth occurs in the spring. The exception would be miscanthus, which self-seeds, making it invasive (usually the seed-grown or early-flowering varieties.) Cut these seed heads off in fall. Any other grass whose seed is becoming a problem for you can also be cut back early to prevent self-sowing. Cutting huge old clumps of ornamental grass can be an onerous job. Some gardeners use a bungee cord to encircle the stems tightly, then cut them with a chain saw or electric hedge clippers.

I think the photo for the "Christmas season events in Catonsville" ( Catonsville Times, Nov. 30) is beautiful. I also enjoyed the article "Santa's arrival another grand occasion," ( Catonsville Times, Nov. 30), describing the community's welcoming Santa Claus at the 18th annual tree lighting. One major item is missing from both articles, which both mention ornaments made by students at Westowne Elementary School. Please give credit where credit is due. The students worked really hard on all of these ornaments.

If Oprah Winfrey singles out just 13 items as her "favorite things" of 2011, and one of them is yours, it's safe to assume you're going to quickly become very — very — popular. So now is probably not the best time to try to reach Sherry Kendall. Ever since Winfrey raved about Kendall's Christmas ornaments featuring hand-painted pet portraits in December's O, the Oprah Magazine, visits to the Woodbine artist's website have spiked, orders are piling up and the glass balls have appeared on two national TV shows.

Even if you have never collected annual Christmas tree ornaments, this may be the year you buy one. As the new millennium approaches, the desire to buy limited editions of many artifacts, including dated Christmas ornaments, is gaining momentum. People, realizing the significance of this once-in-a-lifetime event, are seeking souvenirs to mark it.Manufacturers know a good opportunity when they see one. They're rushing in with a fanciful array of ornaments. They're employing popular symbols, from the not-so-subtle ornaments with "2000" in numerals, to the expected icons of a new year, like mini-champagne glasses and champagne bottles ensconcedce buckets.

I once had some friends who exalted their Christmas eve by putting live candles all over their tree, just as their grandmothers did back in Germany."Yes," commented a relative. "They light the candles, then they call the fire department!"The bright and sometimes burning tree thankfully seems to be a thing of the past, but tree decor, believe me, was never bigger, and artful ornamental artifacts have never been more in evidence.Stores offer a choice of cornhusk angels, sterling silver baubles, porcelain heirlooms with this year's date, and a passel of other offerings done in precious metals or blown glass.

Upon entering the G. Krug & Son blacksmith shop, I was handed a pair of safety goggles and immediately knew I was in for a treat. All around me were the goings-on of a bygone era. Peter Krug, owner of the Baltimore workshop that has been in business since the early 19th century, crafts steel scrollwork by hand, the old-fashioned way: hammer and anvil shaping red-hot metal heated in a 2,500-degree forge. You don't know hot until you've stood in front of that forge on a summer day in a building that has no air conditioning.

Each of the past three years, James Ward of Westminster has sent 5,000 miniature Christmas trees to soldiers overseas, but this year he might have to leave thousands empty-handed. Ward said he has had trouble finding $25 donations for the 2-foot-tall trees that come complete with lights, ornaments and, most importantly, American soil. The foundation, Operation Christmas Tree, started after Ward sent a few dozen trees to his stepdaughter's unit in Iraq in 2006. When he found out how much the troops loved the trees, he decided to expand the operation to troops in countries around the world.