9 Customized Ornaments and a Wonderful Life Shared Around a Glass Table

Customized Ornaments and a Wonderful Life Shared Around a Glass Table:

A few weeks ago, I was taking a walk after reupholstering some bistro chairs when the idea occurred to me for a blog called “9 Customized Ornaments and a Wonderful Life Shared Around a Glass Table”. Some of the customized ornaments that came to mind are our game night, fireplace, and ice hockey keepsakes.  Others might be our wine time, wise old owl, donuts with coffee, and friendship ornaments. This is a story about life and an old table. Not just any old table. Read along to see why.

 

How it Started for Me:

Around this table. I learned so much in my life around this table. My earliest memory of it was when I was perhaps 4 years old. I know this because the bottom of the small wicker basket that held my grandfather’s corn chips was just at my eye level as I approached the glass top held by 4 black legs for a treat. Bull, as I called him, was my first stop on Sunday afternoons when my family visited for dinner. He always seemed like a wise old owl to me wearing his glasses and often holding his crossword puzzle. In the cooler months, he would have a fire burning in the fireplace. He might even be watching his favorite ice hockey team playing on the television. I think of my grandfather nearly every time someone orders one of our customized ornaments of a hockey player.

 

Game Night as a Child:

As I grew, I learned to play Backgammon and Grasshoppers on this table. Later, my grandparents introduced me to the life-enhancing game of Pinochle that taught me the value of strategic thinking. I still refer to that logic in my daily life today. I was captivated by the way my grandparents uniquely played their cards. It was an obvious lesson in the way two people can approach an idea completely differently and still end up at the same spot. I spent hours with them sliding cards across that table top, including during the years when my hands were too small to hold all the cards at once. In my teen years, the table legs were painted gold and later a copper color.

Game Night as a Parent:

Fast forward many years, three homes, and countless meals enjoyed at this table. There I was with my then 3 year old son and my aging grandparents enjoying a pizza and playing Old Maid. It was a moment where life showed how good it can be. Great Bull, as he came to be known since becoming a great-grandparent, made sure to save the last scrap of crumbled sausage for an anticipating toddler. Joy. It looks like this.

Game Night as a Caregiver:

Not quite a decade later, my elderly grandparents came to live next door to us. They brought the table with them to their new small kitchen. There were moments when wine was shared and of course, donuts and coffee. We now played Old Maid with my grandmother, as she worked her way through dementia. It was a much simpler game for her to play than Pinocle and allowed us to still share game time together as a family. There were many conversations around that table. Some talks were trivial ones; others, life-changing. That table was the center point of the room. It was where we gathered to share life. The customized ornaments featuring donuts and coffee remind me of those sweet times with her.

     

 

Life Changes:

When my grandparents died, we moved and so did the table. There was no longer space to keep it indoors, so it became a sitting space under the covered section of our patio. I repainted the base and legs chocolate brown and re-covered the chair seats in colorful vinyl to be more weather resistant.

The Lesson and Customized Ornaments:

Resilient. This table is a lesson in resiliency. It has been altered for changing trends, climates, owners, and lifestyles. The first time I removed the old coverings from the chairs after my grandfather died, I found a perfect example of his wisdom. There on the hidden underside of the foam cushions were small swatches of every style of fabric he had used over the years to refresh their look. He ingeniously left behind the cataloged history of the chairs. Some of that history long forgotten and now brought to the forefront of my mind. The chairs tell a story, much in the same way our customized ornaments tell the story of important people and events in the lives of our customers.

Friendship Customized Ornaments and This Table:

The week before I recently changed the seat coverings to a bright lemon print, a new, but immediately special person in my life gifted me a small pottery elephant that is home to a succulent plant. It was a kind-hearted and unexpected gift of gratitude for our growing friendship. I thought the plant would do best outdoors with the Florida humidity. The elephant sits on top of that table reminding me of so much of the goodness that has filled my life. That goodness now includes this new friend who is decades younger than I am. She reminds me a lot of myself at her age. I look forward to seeing her life evolve through different phases, much in the same way the fabrics changed the chairs. This table is once again at the center of many of the great stories that I carry with me near to my heart.

This table. An unexpected story of a lifetime. 

And Finally:

Dear reader, I ask you. What games did you play as a child? What are some of the most memorable ways you spend time with your family? Do you like corn chips or pizza? What is your story? Grab a cup of tea, log in and share some of your thoughts in the “Sitting and Sharing with Sunny Girl” section below.

Also, for more great customized ornaments to celebrate your story, CLICK HERE.