Christmas Ornaments: Barns

Disclaimer: So I know this is stating the obvious, but taking these ornament photos is kind of challenging for me. For some reason, my hand/arm gets shaky when I am trying to snap the pictures. Crazy. Maybe it is stage fright. ha! Anyway, sorry for the bad pictures.



Today's ornaments are barns. I love barns because they remind me of East Tennessee, where I grew up. It is beautiful there, and that area will always have a special place in my heart. The country landscape is full of breathtaking images ... church steeples stark against the Smoky Mountain backdrop ... rolling hills with hay bales bordered by gorgeous fall colors ... barns with advertisements heralding passersby to see Rock City and Ruby Falls.

Barns are special to me for another reason, too. My grandparents--my mother's parents--had a farm. When we were little, we would spend a few days a week there when Mom started working again. We had so much fun exploring the cornfields, the apple orchard--and, of course, the barns. I remember a couple of barns in particular on the property--not to mention the separate garage and chicken house--and we had a lot of fun in them. Sometimes they could even be a little scary--especially the upper levels, what with the stacked hay bales, tall ladders and such. There was plenty of trouble a gaggle of unsupervised siblings could get into!

Granddaddy would pay us $5 to help him in the fields all day. Boy, we thought we were rich, too! I am sure we were a lot of help, LOL! I can still see him in his Pointer Brand overalls with his milking can in hand, walking out to the barn nearest the house. Or driving his big blue tractor--the same one he'd let us "drive" while sitting on his lap--around the pond and through the fence gate. Inside that barn was a corn shucking machine with a hand crank. By the time we came along, I don't think it got a lot of use--but it was neat to turn the handle. Of course, to say we were not encouraged to play with that thing would be an understatement.

My siblings and I share so many of these farm memories--and these are the things that sometimes come to mind when I see a barn. Or one of the barn ornaments on the Christmas tree.


Here is the backside of the barn ornament in the top photo. It is made of tin and is from Hallmark.


This ornament is special for another reason besides being a barn. As you can see, it is a Fisher-Price Little People barn, just like the old-school Little People we played with growing up. Oh, how we loved our Little People--and this barn. Do you remember how it made a "moo" sound when the doors opened? The ornament does that, too. At least, I am almost certain it does. I think mine needs some batteries.


But wait--there's more! Behind those doors awaits the Little People farmer daddy (complete with his cowboy hat and bandanna) and blue-dress mama with her blonde hair--ready to go to work! I love these details. This brings back so many fun memories--not only of playing Little People with my sisters and brother, but also of playing on my grandparents' farm and in their barn.


Photo of my Granddaddy with my sister Cindy, 1971ish