I do not have a large collection of holiday and seasonal decorations. I have some decorations for Christmas, a few for Halloween, and that’s it. 

What few I have, I like a lot. I believe part of continuing to like them is that they’re part of the decor only a short time each year, so each time I bring them out of storage it’s like meeting an old friend — sometimes one that I’d forgotten but am terribly pleased to see.

I brought a few Christmas decorations down to the apartment in Pittsburgh, and today I set them up. There’s the silver tinsel tree, which needs a bit better lighting to be seen to its best advantage here. There are some holiday dishes, perfect for hosting a small celebration (which I now feel more inclined to plan, now that I know it will mean getting to use these nifty dishes). There’s a wreath that I will have to take back to Butler, because the wreath hanger doesn’t work with the apartment door.

And there’s this ornament.

The Fizziwigs ornament

These are the Fezziwigs, characters from Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Mr. Fezziwig was young Ebenezer Scrooge’s boss, a fun-loving and kind person and a foil to the bitter man Scrooge has become by the start of the story.

The ornament was a gift from my friend Paul. It’s a collectible glass ornament from Christopher Radko; these are made for one year or some short period and then not made again, so there’s a specialness to them. Paul wrote and directed a wonderful version of A Christmas Carol at the Butler Little Theatre some years back, I was producer, and we had just the best cast and crew. It was a fantastic show, the kind I would do again if I had the chance. 

So the Fezziwigs bring all sorts of thoughts when I look at them: the fun (and challenges, but mostly fun) we had in putting on a terrific play; the past Christmas seasons when the Fezziwigs have been part of the seasonal decor; and the story of A Christmas Carol and its message of empathizing with and helping the people around us.

Plus they’re just fun to look at. Such a cheerful couple! They make me want to put on some music and dance my troubles away.