The Lelitky Collection

 After more than a half a century of adorning my Family Christmas Tree in Michigan, I finally got my treasured white satin ornaments returned to me in Toronto.

Even the white curly ribbon hanging bows were pretty much intact! The satin ornaments held up very well after 50 years decorating our family tree and three years of being smushed in a box. Apparently the shimmering decor bothered the cat, so the new tenants tossed all the ornaments into a box and banished them to basement.

Being a savvy designer now, I chose to call them my LELITKY COLLECTION. ‘Lelitky’ is a Ukrainian term for sequins, much nicer sounding than ‘payetky’. Since I created the sequins-studded satin ornaments in the 1970s, I put my maiden name on the hang tag. The snowflake is mine from my Fanwheel Snowflake Collection and is the perfect touch for an ornament collection!

Satin thread-wrapped balls first emerged in the 1960s to stand out on the aluminum trees which came into vogue then. At first satin threads were wound onto styrofoam balls, but later were also available on hollow plastic forms. The best way to secure the sequins to the ball was to use fine 1/2” straight pins, the kind which were used for putting up decorations on bulletin boards (my other afterschool activity). I bought myself a box of pins and have vivid memories of very sore fingers pushing pins into hard plastic just to get my embroidered designs right!

I bought a few boxes of white satin balls and was on the lookout for unusual shapes. I found a box of three bell-shaped ornaments and then two different sizes of squished saucer-like balls. 

For me, the satin balls provided a blank canvas for creating embroidered designs using sequins for each cross-stitch. I used charted Ukrainian embroidery books and plates for reference and had an artistic license for changing sequins colors for festive ornaments.

I would work on them in the evenings during my later high school, early college years. I enjoyed the creative process because each ornament was different. It was a perfect opportunity to adorn our family tree with contemporary Ukrainian-inspired ornaments.

There was no end to the creative possibilities until I ran out of satin balls.

I have fond memories of Christmases in Detroit. My embroidered satin ornaments were always on the family tree. Here’s a photo of the one and only Christmas my uncle and godfather from  Rome managed to join us for Sviat Vechir, the Christmas Eve meal. We dropped him off at the airport on Christmas Day.

Fr. Lubomyr Husar is home visiting our family, 1983

Here’s my mother Martha decorating her tree in her condo with granddaughters Katya and Lesia.

Decorating the tree with granddaughters, 1996 

After a while, my mother wisened up and bought a faux tree. She decorated it with my white sequins-embroidered ornaments and a few other favourites. For the next few years, the tree was carried fully dressed up and downstairs in time for Christmas. Though she passed away in 2001, the tradition continued for decades. Instantly decorated tree always set in the same corner for Christmas = tradition.

Classic group photo by the Christmas tree, 2017

In the last two decades, this is the tree I remember when I visited my Michigan home for the holidays.

But not any more…

I am glad my ornaments look great after fifty plus years. Now, I refurbished them by cutting off the curly white ribbon, added a fine gold cord and LELITKY hang tag for a new life. Even bought a special TIDY stacking case to keep the ornaments safe off-season.

I would like to donate them to the UkrainianAmerican Archives and Museum in Hamtramck, MI, because I created the Collection while a student in Detroit. 

I would love to see a Christmas tree in the museum decorated with The Lelitky Collection of embroidered ornaments by Maria Wasylkewycz. It would be an great example of an Ukrainian Christmas Tree in the 1970s. If not, the UAA Museum can sell each Ukrainian-inspired ornaments individually in the Gift Shop to raise funds.