Lakewood Ranch area residents tell stories of what makes their Christmas ornaments special

They represent places, people and moments that are most special to us.

Often, they are packed away in attics and basements and they only emerge for a few weeks each year.

Our Christmas ornaments.

These East County residents share stories about their most precious ornaments.

Donna Sutton Van Riper and Gerald Van Riper

Tara's Donna Sutton Van Riper never cared much for the typical wedding cake toppers.

So on a shopping trip 22 years ago in Pennsylvania, in advance of her marriage to Gerald Van Riper, she decided to check out a small town Christmas store. There, she fell in love with an angel that was meant to be a Christmas tree topper.

"I like angels," she said.

So when Donna and Gerald celebrated Oct. 10, 1998, at the Flemington, N.J. Elks Lodge, an angel looked over their wedding on top of their cake.

"I thought it was great," her husband said. "It was on a beautiful German cheesecake."

Donna's mom, Janet Godshalk, suggested they use their wedding cake topper as their Christmas tree topper every year.

"She still lights up," Donna said of the angel. "But her head used to turn and it doesn't anymore. I guess it's old age ... just like me. But when we see her, we smile. It reminds us of a beautiful day."

Tom and Gloria Rokosz

In May 1999, tragedy struck Tom and Gloria Rokosz.

The Rokoszes, who now live in Country Club, were at the pool store they owned in St. Petersburg when they received a call from their neighbors in Tierra Verde. Their home was on fire.

The married couple of 28 years at the time lost almost everything they had, including three cats — though their dog survived when neighbors heard him and broke into the house to save him.

One of the handful of objects to survive the fire was a decorative Santa Claus, dressed completely in white. His beard was turned gray by the smoke, but he was otherwise spared from the effects of the fire.

The Rokoszes now own a collection of similar Santas, but their "designated survivor" was the original.

"It brings good memories and bad memories," Gloria Rokosz said. "It was a long year for us. ... It was just a nightmare. But when I see him, it kind of brings me joy, because he survived. He survived it."

"Just like we did," Tom Rokosz added.

Colleen Reinert

This year, Greenbrook's Colleen Reinert and her family moved into a new home, so she wanted her Christmas tree to be different. 

She chose to put color-coordinated ornaments and ribbon on the tree for decoration. She didn't have any of her traditional family ornaments on the tree, except for two. 

Reinert has two Twinkler ornaments, one in blue and another in pink, from the 1950s. The ornaments are also known as a carousel, fan, birdcage or spinner ornament. The spinner moves as a result of the thermal air current generated by incandescent lights on the tree. 

Reinert received the ornaments from her mother, Katie Reinert, who had them given to her by her mother, Joan Kelly. 

As a girl, Reinert remembers having to blow on the ornaments to get the spinner going.

"I don't have a lot of things passed down and do not hold onto a lot myself," Reinert said. "But these ornaments, I feel lucky to have because I know my siblings and cousins would have the same memories of blowing these ornaments. ... I know I will pass these two ornaments onto someone that will appreciate them as much as I do."

Amanda Tullidge

Lakewood Ranch's Amanda Tullidge and her future husband Dan were driving to a little town, Roswell, Ga., in October of 2013 to check out a wedding dress she had seen online. She had searched the area here and couldn't find the perfect dress.

"I made Dan drive me to Georgia," she said. "We had to drive eight hours to get there so I could try it on. They also had a little fall festival while we visited."

The couple found the store and Dan waited in the car (the groom can't see the bride in the dress before the wedding, for goodness sakes) while Amanda went inside and tried on the dress. She loved it, and made the purchase. They then checked out the fall festival, finding a cute Christmas ornament that they felt was perfect to mark their adventure. Now when they hang the ornament on the tree, they think about their trip to find the perfect wedding dress.

Madeline Rodriguez

Since 2001, Del Tierra's Madeline Rodriguez has been buying a Hallmark Frosty Friends collection ornament for her mother, Barbara Castro, as a birthday gift. 

Castro had been collecting them since Hallmark debuted the collection in 1980. It is the longest running Hallmark Keepsake Ornament series. 

Castro died in February 2019, so when her birthday rolled around in October, Rodriguez said she struggled with buying the ornament for that year.

"I was debating whether or not to buy it again because I kind of thought, you know, it was her thing," Rodriguez said. "I thought, well, I have the collection, and I can just keep them as is, but I decided to just continue."

Rodriguez has an entire tree dedicated to the dozens of Frosty Friends ornaments. Each ornament, which has the year printed on it, brings back a memory of Rodriguez trying to buy the ornament before Castro does or of an event happening that year.

Sarah Wiegand

Santas are often featured on Christmas trees, and for Myakka City's Sarah Wiegand, it's no different.

Wiegand made a Santa ornament out of a wooden ice cream spoon, construction paper, scissors, a cotton ball and glue when she was 6 years old living in Natrona Heights, Pa. She was a second grader at Birdville Elementary School.

After having the tiny Santa on the tree for 35 Christmases, Santa's legs and arms, which were made out of construction paper, have almost disappeared. 

"I love the Santa stick because he's a time capsule," Wiegand said. "It is a snapshot of a 6-year-old me, who had a different name, lived in another culture, resided in another state and attended a school that no longer exists. ... He has a happy history and spends 11 months a year in the dark, waiting to be pulled from my shoebox of special ornaments. As all old friends deserve, Santa is given a prominent position on an eye-level tree branch, facing out for all to see and laugh at his goofy face."

Anne Goyer

Anne Goyer’s favorite Christmas ornament stands out to her immediately. It’s the pine cone ornament made by one of her children, Amanda.

Before Amanda was old enough to start going to school, she attended daycare at a private home while her parents were at work. She made a Christmas ornament at daycare every year, but her favorite was the pine cone. When she was 3 years old, she searched the daycare backyard for a suitable pine cone, then added glitter and a photo of herself to complete the ornament.

The ornament became a family classic immediately, but it was elevated to legendary status about seven years later, the year the pine cone went missing. Amanda searched through every Christmas bin the Goyers owned, calling for the pine cone in the best British accent the young Ohioan could muster. After a lengthy exploration, she finally found it. The ornament has been the centerpiece of the Goyer family Christmas tree every year since.

“Each year when we put up the family tree, we laugh and talk about the year the pine cone went missing and then fondly remember how fortunate we were to have such wonderful caregivers for our daughter’s first four years of life,” Anne Goyer said.

Jaxon and Jordan Brown

Christmas ornaments can be reminders of how people have grown.

For Jaxon Brown 14, and Jordan Brown, 12, these reminders are literal. The brothers' favorite ornaments are ones their parents, Jerome Brown and Jessica Brown, had made for them before they could even walk. The Browns had Jaxon and Jordan paint their hands, then had them grip an ornament. Their entire hand print fit. The boys then painted their hand prints like snowmen, to fit with the season. 

"It shows us how quickly time passes," Jerome Brown said. "It reminds to cherish these holidays we have."

Jaxon and Jordan can no longer fit their whole hand print on the ornaments. They're growing up; both boys are budding golfers. Still, they said, the ornaments are a reminder of how precious their childhood memories are. 

Pat Ancil

For Pat Ancil, choosing his favorite ornament turned out to be quite difficult.

He has so many, he said, but they all revolve around the same idea — family. 

On Ancil's tree, there are handfuls of joyous ornaments dedicated to his favorite people. There are also tributes, in the form of golden angels, to loved ones who have died. But if Ancil was forced to pick a favorite, he said, he would choose a photo ornament of his first grandson, Andrew Garner, taken when Andrew was approximately a year old, in 2007. It was the first such ornament he ever had. 

Ancil and his wife, Pam Ancil, don't get to see Andrew, who will soon turn 14, as often as they would like, as he, his mom Laurel Garner (Pat and Pam's daughter) and his brother Cooper Garner live in Georgia. But the ornament, like the other family ornaments, help the Ancils feel close to family, even when separated by a great distance.