Sparkling memories

Marcille Groenke of Minneapolis has a lot of holiday decorations. But the crown jewel is the Christmas tree she spent 20 years making out of old jewelry. Groenke started the project in 1983, when she was working at Honeywell's aerospace factory in Coon Rapids. An artsy co-worker sketched the design and found someone in manufacturing to make a wood base. Then Groenke started gluing. The tree contains memories from her entire life: an ankle bracelet she wore as a teen, a rhinestone barrette, a mother-of-pearl keepsake from a trip; earrings, pendants and her Honeywell anniversary pins. It's so thickly encrusted with trinkets that the ones she applied first are now hidden. A jeweler once asked to see it, then started prying off gold pieces. When she asked what he was doing, he said, "You like to travel, don't you? Why don't you melt these down to pay for your next trip?"

ANGEL BABY

In 1962, when Peggy Miller was 9, a new sister was born into her family. But the baby, Kim Diane, had serious health problems and lived only a few days. Miller and her siblings never got to see her. "Mom has always marveled at how beautiful Kim Diane was, like a perfect doll," she said. That Christmas, her parents bought an angel decoration in memory of Kim Diane. The angel was the family's treetop decoration for many years. Miller, the eldest, eventually inherited it. She lives in Maple Grove, but she still visits Kim Diane's gravesite in Eau Claire, Wis., and displays the angel in memory of the baby sister she lost.

NUT GOODIE

When Mary Roening of Crystal first received this ornament as a gift 45 years ago, she was not a fan of it. It was a monkey made of nuts, with a pecan body, a hazelnut head and pipe-cleaner appendages. "I thought he was too ugly to even put on the tree," she recalled. But her kids insisted. After they left home, Roening retired the monkey, thinking he wouldn't be missed. She was wrong. The monkey is now back on her tree, and has graduated to an honored place by the star.

PIXILATED

Sandie Nelson of Red Wing, Minn., isn't sure what this ornament was supposed to represent. A pixie? All she knows is that she received it as a 6-year-old in Youngstown, Ohio, in the 1960s and fell in love with it. "It's not the fanciest," she said. "But it was magical to me, and even better, I could play with it. I played with it so hard, I thought the face started to fade a little. So I thought I would make it even more beautiful ... with a trusty, black magic marker." But she smeared the pixie's eye. "I was devastated," Sandie recalled. "But I loved her even more."

BABY LOVE

When Rosalind Sinesio of Edina was growing up, a tiny New Year's Baby was her family's most coveted Christmas ornament. "Only the most mature and careful of us five kids was allowed to place her on the tree," she said. "Being the youngest, it seemed decades until it was my turn." There were other rules: The baby must be placed near a light so her sequins would sparkle. And she had to be hung high, so kids and pets didn't bump her. When asked where the baby came from, "My mother always said, 'The nuns made it,'" Sinesio recalled. Her father was a physician who treated Catholic nuns free of charge, and in return, they sent handmade gifts: tatted-lace pillowcases, dresser scarves and doilies -- but only one New Year's Baby, a memento Sinesio has treasured for 60 years.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

When Lisa Pust of Andover was growing up in Pennsylvania, her parents always celebrated Christmas with a "cotton tree." They'd go into the woods to cut down a sassafras tree, because of the distinctive limb shape. Then Lisa's mother would wind strings of light around the trunk and branches, and wrap the entire tree with strips of cotton batting. "It had the most beautiful look of a tree in the forest covered with snow," recalled Lisa. (That's her, in curlers, with her brother David, probably in 1965.)

Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Marcille Groenke spent more than 20 years making this small tree that she hangs in her home. Many of the items are from old jewelry that has significance to her life.

BLOCK STAR

Diane Newstrom's favorite holiday decoration is a Christmas tree made by her "super-creative sister Sandy" [Siebert]. She assembled children's blocks to spell the names of each family member, along with the words "Love," "Joy" and "Christmas." Then she glued miniature items to represent the interests of various family members (books, a tennis racquet, etc.). "It is a treasured gift and one we display fondly every year," said Newstrom, of Aitkin, Minn.

STILL KICKING

"I'm dating myself when I confess that over six decades ago, as a child, my father gave me a mechanical Rudolph that I dearly treasure," said Carole Pearson of Richfield. She and her Rudolph are both "collectibles but not yet antiques." Every Christmas, she winds the key in his belly and sets him on a table. "He is still kicking, and I am, too," she said.

FIRST PRIZE

This little piggy belongs to Audrey Hyatt of Maple Grove, who won him in 1972 when she was a third-grader at Immaculate Conception School in Columbia Heights. Sister Pacelli gave the class the assignment of constructing Noah's Ark out of materials on hand. Hyatt's, made from a shoebox, took first place, Her prize: picking any ornament from the classroom tree. She chose the pig, and he's hung on her tree every year since.

SENSES OF THE SEASON

As a blind person, Jane Toleno of Big Lake, Minn., can't appreciate holiday lights and glitter. But she still finds much to savor. "Most of all, I love the family stories, told and rehashed every year," she said. "My family tells of our forefathers coming to this country ...of the good times and the bad. We talk of the year past and what we might do next year. While others rely on the pictures they take to commemorate these special times, I don't have that option. I rely on the stories, the warmth of the home, the music, the smell of the greens, warm cookies and cinnamon. I just love this time of year."