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HE FIRST WEEKEND in December is the traditional begin-ning
of the Christmas season for the family. The Ward children,
Bennett, 10, and Lily, 7, choose a cut evergreen from a local tree
lot. On the day it is brought indoors and placed in the corner of
the great room beside one of two fireplaces, Alisa warms some
hot chocolate — regardless of the temperature outside — and
the ritual of unwrapping ornaments begins. Each child has
a bin filled with ornaments and decorations — some made
when they were in preschool, others accumulated over time,
and still more from the family’s treasure trove acquired dur-ing
travels near and far. All have meaning — a memento
from the Cape May-Lewes Ferry representing Alisa’s
New Jersey roots, or a family trip to LEGOLAND in
California. Each one is carefully unwrapped and the
memories revisited.
“It’s just as much fun for me each year to watch
them unwrap the ornaments,” Alisa says. “It’s all about the magic
for them.”
Hand-knit by Alisa Ward’s nan, is stored each year with the handwritten note her grand-mother
wrote for Bennett’s and Lily’s first Christmases.
Each year, Alisa fondly rereads the card before hanging the stockings from the mantel beneath
“Resolute,” sculptor Paul Hill’s copper, steel and fused glass cow skull.
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