Well, I was married in 1965, so I have many ornaments that are at least that old. Please tell me they aren't antiques!! :-) My MIL had a flower shop and carried Hallmark, so every year beginning in the early 70s, she sent us each of us (3 kids, too) a Hallmark ornament. I have many, many of them. Have some Byers figures that are 25-30 yrs old. Some Simpich. So nothing classified as antiques, but many at least 50 years old.

My husband has three remaining ornaments from his father's home when his father was a child growing up in Savannah, GA in 1920. They are silvery glass with a small amount of pink color remaining and we treat these, and the two glass reindeer of the same house and vintage, with tremendous reverence each year when they are carefully unpacked. They gained a new importance upon the death of my father in law 15 years ago and we cherish them.

The oldest I have that's "mine" is a ballerina I got when I was taking my first lessons at age 6 or 7.

The oldest in the house are gorgeous glass ornaments from (I think) the '30s. They're given pride of place near the top of the tree, then very carefully packed away each year.

when I was a kid I had a train that was under the tree and in the years that followed it was lost some where. when I got married me and my father in law were talking about trains and before he died he had a surprise for me his train set it was from the 1920 when he was a kid to the surprise to the two of us it still ran great. Also there was a set of tin houses that went with it

My oldest and dearest ornament is one my 40 year old daughter made while in kindergarten. It has become my 10 year old granddaughter's favorite, as well, as we wait for her visit to help us decorate our tree, and she looks for her Mom's ornament to hang on our tree each year.

My favourite one is one that my sister has and displays each year........a letter to Santa, written by our father when he was seven. She had it framed to preserve the very old paper. It was written in 1936 and it is absolutely precious.

Angel holding what looks like a cigarette, from my childhood.

kmchuff my daughter is 32 and she wrote a very funny letter when she was in 1st grade. I put it up every Christmas on my refigerator and every year we laugh when we read it.

It always makes me feel good inside when I open up the few ornaments I have that survived all the years from our childhood trees and a few beaded homemade ones that my grandmother made with her sewing group when she was alive.
When we were little my mother had a set of neon color dwarfs or little guys that had top hats on. They were about five inches tall and three inches wide, each had a different colored suit on like teal or bright pink and each wore the same bright color top hat as their suit. These were such a good memory and I would love to see them again but have not been able to find them anywhere or anyone who has even ever seen these; so cute though.

My grandmother, my mother and now I have given each of our children an ornament every year. When I got married, my mom divvied up her ornaments to give me mine and 1/3 of hers, which included many from her grandparents who bought their first ornaments when they got married in 1935. Not sure which is the oldest, but I have a pink pasteboard bird and an angel with fabric wings stretched over a wire frame, along with several glass ball ornaments. I also have a handful of metal figures to put into a winter scene for a nativity set.

My parents were born in 1917-18 and I have ornaments from their childhoods. One is a pasteboard mushroom. Here are a couple of pictures... glass ornaments and my dad's puppy's squeaky toy! All are cherished remembrances.

My parents, now both deceased, were married in 1936. I have an ornament from their first Christmas tree. It is a pear, covered in a paper-mâché-type paper. When I was a child, it was always the first ornament put on the tree every year. Now, it graces my family tree, and is especially cherished by our family.

We do not put them all out but my favorites are ones my kids made. I also have my stocking from when I was little. We got them one year and our names were written on them in silver glitter.

Me, in my Goodwill ugly holiday sweater. Tis the season:)

More than 4 decades ago we were newly married college students. Live trees were affordable but the decorations... My mother in law gave us two boxes of cheap white satin balls and we bought boxes of gold satin balls in various sizes. We found a golden haired cardboard angel with a white fabric overlay and gold wings to perch on the top. The basic color scheme has remained the same but we've upgraded the ornaments from after season and manufacturer's sales (House of Hatten was here in Austin.) There is a fancier blonde angel on top and some girlie ornaments have been added since our daughter was born. We have a house full of cats (again thanks to the daughter) so nothing precious goes on the tree.

We have a train from my husband's childhood and a wooden fence with barnyard animals that were under my childhood trees and Its a real shame that we are afraid to put them out. We always put out the Mr. and Mrs. Santa that we bought at a craft fair in California and the nutcracker we carried home from Germany. We have stockings made of quilt remnants on the mantel. All of these have been a tradition for more than 25 years.

What would you like to say? Crèche is from meine heimat, Bayreuth, Germany, circa 1955 (year I was born) and the poor St. Nick is from same time, he has lost both his arms and part of a boot, he is left out all year....

Thank you for asking! 28 years ago ...this Christmas "mushroom" was proudly handmade by, and presented to me by my 12 year old daughter. I thanked her and told her how very much I appreciated it because I didn't have a mushroom in all of my Christmas decor! Right. Then she told me it is a Christmas HOT AIR BALLOON! After that awkward moment it has made us smile every year - and it travels all over the house - kind of like the Elf on a Shelf thing, it sneaks into other Christmas vignettes so you never know where it might show up next!

yes! the reindeer ornaments my kids made from clothespins in kindergarten....doesn't everyone?

Like many of you, I have a multigenerational collection, including my mother's creche from the early 1950's. Here is my mother's strawberry from her childhood, mid 1920's, the rocking horse she gave my daughter 25 year ago!, and a needlepoint I made two years ago.

An ornament from when I was a child in the 50's. I bought a little sleigh to put her in. I believe she used to carry a little poinsettia in her hand.

This creche has been in the family since the 1940s. I tried to explain to Kato the cat how upset I would be if he broke pieces of it, but he likes to peer into the stable.

The topper on my tree is blown glass from the late 1800's. I'm especially careful, as I don't want to be the one to curtail the rest of its legacy.

My husband has his mothers (born in 1913) decoration, its a st Nicolas booth made of pipe cleaners and the top comes of probably there was candy in it and it hangs on the christmas tree!

Moving from one country to another and then another I have souvenirs of the old ornaments that were on our family tree all those years ago ,I have one that we got when the kids were small and still proudly display it on our tree each year .

My husband's grandmother sent us a box of Christmas cheer for our first Christmas after we married. We were in Montana with no family. About 15 feet of this pom pom fringe was included. So I decorated the wall with all the items she sent and the Christmas cards that we recieved. I'm not sure we even had a tree. That was 33 years ago and it is still in my Christmas decorations. I get it out to remember her and all the love she sent us.

My oldest ornament is a square cupcake with a yummy looking frosted sugary top with a cherry in the middle. It was my favorite ornament when I was a little girl- it must be 40 or even 50 years old ( 1950's or 60's). I put it near the top of my tree each year now and my 9 year old thinks it's "so ugly" and he always tries to take it down and hide it somewhere on the back of the tree where you cannot see it- hahaha! I have some other really really old glass ornaments that were my moms as well...but those just stay packed away for fear of being broken.

My oldest ornament is an 11-piece angel orchestra that I bought at a variety store when I was a homesick college student in 1967. They were made in West Germany and were barely an inch tall. I nestled them in a cloud of angel hair backlit by twinkling lights, and they were much loved by my dorm mates. The original box is behind them here. I don't know what I paid for them, but I was an impoverished student, so it couldn't have been more than a couple of dollars.

I have large and heavy glass balls---these are so heavy that you can only hang them on the inside of the branches of a real tree---so I don't hang them anymore! These are supposed to be from Belgium and are solid silver and gold (that now has a sort of Mercury glass look due to age). They are more than 100 years old and came here with my great grandfather.

I also have a few things from my mother and grandmother--hand made felt elves; my grandfathers clip on glass birds with floss tails---I love these soooo much more than the ones with the feather tails!--and I have the glittery light weight glass molded ornaments from the 30's on from various great and grand parents.

And the ones my kids and grand kids made!!!!!! Now I and my 7 year old grand daughter are making our own ornaments----

A red and silver accordion foil foldout bell my parents bought before I came along; It's about 8" high and 7" wide when unfolded, the little tabs broke off so there is a paperclip to hold it open now... and the top of mom's Hallmark fold out blue green Christmas tree with the cardboard rings showing candles and garlands. It had a little bit that stuck in the top with the star, I always fancied that bit since she'd gotten it and I was a wee thing (circa 1965) so a few years ago she was thinning out and tossed that raggy tree and I rescued that bit. For our own, some rummage sale blown moldglass cheap ornaments made in non-china; and at one time had glitter glued to them. A few years ago I gave them some white glue and a new sprinkle.

I have some beaded and sequined ornaments that my mother made when I was a child. I am 58 now. They are the highlight of my tree--the ornaments that the kids all ooh and ahh over. And the ones closest to my heart.

Glass candy canes from the 1940's. They're faded and a lot of the color is gone, but they are special to me. I usually hang them close to the tree trunk so they won't get broken.

I have some ornaments from the 1950's that are special to me but some glass ornaments that survived a Christmas tree fire (from me plugging in lights when I was a little girl) that still show some burned spots remind me of how fragile life is. Reflections of those times are special. I also divided some of the old ornaments into two boxes for each of my sons now that they have their own homes to decorate. It is like sharing a piece of the past.

Almost all my ornaments have a story & a history. I have a little basket that hung on my mother's tree as a child. She was born in 1924. Other ornaments are ones that hung on our family tree when I was a child, hung on my first tree when I was first married, some I made for my brother & sisters every year (they have the dates on them) and a few that my children made. It is a treasure of memories to relive as I decorate each year.

I have an ornament that was my grandmothers. She was born in 1893
I keep it out in a glass cloche all year

I have a reindeer ornament and a stuffed Santa dating back to the late 50's - early 60's.

Mine is this framed "Christmas tree" my grandmother made from old jewelry. It was before I was born...circa late 40's or early 50's. It's not something I would normally display, but the sentimental value overrides that big time.

why was my post deleted?

I think the oldest things I have are my childhood Christmas stocking and my family's creche. The red-and-white flannel stocking [jingle bell too] was for my first Christmas in December 1956 when I was five months old. The creche was a gift from my dad's parents to my parents for THEIR first Christmas together a year earlier in 1955, two months after their wedding. My mom always put fresh evergreens and candles around it - and there's a place for a night light bulb inside the stable. We always used a blue bulb for this because it cast a starry-starry night Christmas Eve glow.

I have collected the Frosty Friends Hallmark ornaments each year since the series began in 1980. Just purchased the 34th...can't believe it's been that long! My daughters will have to "fight it out" someday. Maybe I'll just leave them to one of the grandkids!

chloebud your tree is beautiful, display it proudly.

What a great article. Here's some of my favourites that if the house is on fire, I'd try to grab! Absolutely love the sentimental value and I remember them growing up. It's not Christmas without them!

We had several ornaments from our parents from the 30's and 40's. We gave our kids one each and we have two for our tree. Whenever we take them out and put them on the tree it brings back memories of those days when we use to put those ornaments on the tree when we were little kids. Never forget it.

We have an owl made of felt decorated with sequins and beading that my grandmother made in the 1950's, and an angel tree topper my parents brought me from Germany when I was in college in the early Seventies. Both are important parts of my Christmas tradition.

I have my grandmothers Christmas ornament. She was born in 1893. It is a cellulose house.
I have it in a glass cloche and it is in my dinning room all year long

So glad to discover this article! Since marrying at 20 I have amassed a large collection of Christmas tree ornaments, each with its own story. They were the first thing we rescued from the basement when our neighborhood was hit by a 500-year storm and everything flooded.

Probably the oldest are a few small blown glass pinecones that came from Germany with my paternal Grandma's family - then some small cardboard and glitter birds and a house - those were on my parent's trees as I grew up. My mother told me that during WWII, there were many cardboard ornaments, because no one imported the lovely blown glass ones then. It would have been unpatriotic.

Every year we allow our "grands" to pick one ornament from our heavily-decorated tree. Of course, they will eventually inherit the whole lot, to divvy up as they please. But for now, it is great fun to watch them look over the entire tree and try to decide which one is "the one" to take home to their own Christmas tree...

Oh what a wonderful story - and I loved the history lesson. I still wish I had those cardboard glitter birds! Great idea about allowing the grandkids to select one ornament each year. Might have to do that!

I have these little clay chickens that go in and around the nativity set. They were bought in the summer of 1968 when my parents took us to the Azores to show us where they were from and to meet our families. We were little kids and thought those chickens were so cute. My mother gave me some and kept some for herself. We use them very Christmas. Poor things are so old and some have trouble standing but I can't bear to part with them. If you look really close, you'll see a gray one on the right side in the stable.

My prize possessions are Christmas tree ornaments my great-grandmother brought here when she immigrated from Germany. I can age them myself to be 131 years old as that is how long they have been in the USA. Don't know how old they were when she brought them here. I also have many decorations from the late 40's and early 50's. I have an elf from the early 50's that I would think the design for "elf on the shelf came from. I have celluloid Christmas garden animals from when I was a kid.

Image #1--A Mr. and Mrs. Santa my Mother in law hand made over 40 years ago. She pasted last year at 94 years old...amazing women.
Image #2--a handmade ornament from Greenfield Village in Michigan when I was in 7th grade..about 11 years old I am 56 now!