That one Christmas bauble that always gets the best place on the tree, who doesn’t have it? We asked our readers about the story behind their most special Christmas bauble. “The Christmas bauble with the text ‘baby’s first Christmas’ is indispensable.”
Eva’s first Christmas bauble
Maria Kaizer (65) from Assen has a few indispensable Christmas baubles in her tree, but her daughter’s first Christmas bauble is by far the most important. “Eva was born with cystic fibrosis. After her birth we had to stay in the hospital for a while, but she was allowed to go home at Christmas. Then we bought her the Christmas bauble that said ‘baby’s first Christmas’.”
Maria’s daughter died in 2006 at the age of 17. “Eva was a very brave girl. During her short life she was hospitalized almost seventy times. She was on the waiting list for new lungs, but they did not arrive on time.” Maria hopes that stories like Eva’s will make even more people want to become donors. “How special is it if you can save someone else’s life after your death?”
After Eva’s death, Maria chose a beautiful photo of her daughter and had it made into a Christmas ball. It also always gets a special place in her tree. “I enjoy decorating my house for Christmas, but I think making beautiful memories is much more important.” For Maria, this does not mean a bucket list that she still wants to complete. She much prefers to enjoy the little everyday things. “Because life cannot be taken for granted.”
Hilda’s peak
At Hilda Keun Wiegman (52) from Donderen, the Christmas tree is always the first to go. “When I clean up the tree after Christmas, the spike is the first thing to be neatly put away again. I don’t want to think about it breaking down, because it’s over 50 years old. It was the first Christmas present my father bought for my mother. He was working in Germany at the time and brought this peak for her.”
For years the peak was the centerpiece of the Christmas tree at Hilda’s parents on the Visserstraat in Veendam. “Now that my father and mother are both gone, the peak is in my tree. This way my parents are still there for Christmas.”
Janneke’s church
Janneke Middelkamp (65) from Winschoten has a Christmas ball that is almost 60 years old hanging in her tree. She still remembers how she once chose him herself. “I was about 6 years old and my mother took me to Bico, a household goods store in Engelstilstraat in Winschoten. There was a lot of choice, but I liked this church the most.”
After Janneke left home in 1982, her parents found it increasingly difficult to decorate their Christmas tree themselves. “Then I’ll come and do the tree,” I said. It was always nice to bring out my church again, and my parents enjoyed the beautiful tree.”
When Janneke’s father died in 2006, her mother moved to a nursing home. Janneke also decorated the Christmas tree there every year, until her mother died in 2015. Together with her brother and sister, she distributed the Christmas decorations and since then ‘her little church’ has been hanging in Janneke’s own tree again. “I know my parents love that we cherish the Christmas decorations.”
Hilda’s swan
Hilda de Boer (57) lives in the city of Groningen and has a swan that is more than 45 years old. “I don’t know any better than that it’s hanging in the tree.” The swan belonged to her mother, who died in 1983. “The first years I lived on my own I didn’t have a Christmas tree, but now it has been hanging in my own tree for at least 30 years.”
“The swan is the first to be placed in the tree every year and it always gets a nice place next to the peak.” This way, Hilda will spend a little extra time thinking about her mother at Christmas. “But I don’t actually need a swan for that.”