I always look forward to putting up the Christmas tree. It’s a time-consuming mess, but there is something about the warm glow of the lights filling up the living room. Every decoration tells a small story or represents a moment in time.
Now days the Crockett tree is full of Looney Tunes, ornaments from our travels and a few very special homemade ornaments.
There is a collection of Buddy Brown originals. Who’s Buddy Brown? If you are a fan of the website, there are two stories posted about him already. You can see them here: Edgemoor Park and/or Buddy the Friendly Ghost.
A little background. One of my Dad’s many mentors in the theater business was a man named Harold “Buddy” Brown. A diehard movie manager. He lived and breathed the business. I wish I knew more of his backstory to share, but I don’t know much about him other than my memories. He was a theater “old timer” and one of my favorite guys. He was just cool. A confirmed bachelor with no kids.
He always had an energetic spirit about him. His hobby was making Christmas ornaments. I’m not sure how many he made each year but up until his death my sister and I got an ornament from him every year.
The ornaments came in a matching set, one boy, one girl.
Clowns, angels, Raggedy Anne and Andy, so many neat ones. I know there are more ornaments than what is seen here. We did not put up a tree this year and I couldn’t find all my ornaments.
The last year we went to see Buddy he told us he was too ill to make the ornaments and to choose one off his tree. There were so many beautiful ones to choose from, you could tell he was an artist with his ornaments. He passed away after fighting with emphysema for years.
Eventually the pairs had to be separated… I think it broke my mom’s heart a little when my sister got married and took her half to hang on her family’s tree. A few years ago, my dad finally gave in and told me to take my ornaments home after Christmas. I was excited to add them to “our tree.”
I do not have any pics of Buddy and my dad’s photos are on slides, and we didn’t really have time to hunt through the collection. If you have a story, picture or memory of Buddy, please send it my way and I will add it to this post.