Heirloom Hallmark Family Tree

I will admit that my cousin, TK, of Before My Time is one talented artistic person. When she wrote her 3 posts about her Heirloom Hallmark Family Tree and discussed the photo ornaments that she created for her tree, I was mesmerized.

I did go out on eBay and found a similar tree for sale. A good bid later and the tree was mine. It was shipped promptly and was easy to assemble. TK and I had several e-mails back and forth about how I was going to adorn my tree. I will probably also do the photo ornaments as she did and she graciously offered to help me with the preparation of the photos.

In the meantime, though, I had another seasonal use for the tree:

Easter eggs handmade by Ella Kolberg Kijak
ca 1945
St. Joseph, MI

These egg ornaments were all made by my grandmother, Ella Kolberg Kijak, approximately in 1945. She displayed these eggs on a tree at her home in St. Joseph every Easter. Her tree consisted of using a large crystal vase and putting live tree branches in the vase with stones and sand at the bottom to hold up the tree branches. It was the focal point on her buffet and something that stands in my memory of "Easter at Grandma's house".

She gave my mother the eggs perhaps in the early 1970's and we have displayed them in a variety of ways over the years. However, this year, I thought this Hallmark Family Tree was the ideal display option. I don't remember how many eggs there were originally. I do remember the detailed work that went into creating these eggs, though. We have only broken a few over the years and there are 23 remaining. Today the tree was disassembled and the eggs packed away for safekeeping.

Now it is time to begin collecting locket ornaments and creating my own Heirloom Family Tree. TK, are you ready?

Above photo from personal collection of Cheryl Schulte