Penning Photography Daily

One of the hundreds of ornaments that adorn the tree that our friends put up annually in their home.

At first, I thought it might be a peacock. When I moved in for a closer look, it clearly is a Road Runner. I don’t think most of these birds have a crown on top of their head, so I named this one the Road Runner King. They have a plume of feathers that the artist interpreted here as a crown.

Compared to the other ornaments, this one stood out. It is clipped to the tree, not hung by a hook. Long and elegant, it put a stripe of silver in a sea of round and colorful shapes.

A family tradition of collecting Christmas ornaments has, over the course of their 50+ years together, provided a rich and meaningful array of memories for them as they put up the tree each year. Each ornament had a story of when or where in their travels they had acquired it. They told of taking a photo album with them on trips, with one photo for each ornament, so they wouldn’t buy a duplicate. We could tell, as they glowed with the memories that the ornaments brought out, that this tradition is one of many that bind their love for each other together.

They cannot travel anymore, but they travel the memories of their happier times as they reminisce while hanging with care each delicate ornament.