To us it's more than a Christmas tree, it started as a small fun project in December of 1999, celebrating Christmas as a new IU Alum I asked my grandma if we could start a family tree. I wanted to do an ornament for each family member. She went with most of my crazy ideas so I headed out after Christmas to get started on purchasing what we would need.
John and Mary Ann Horstman were married on November 24, 1938 and from there they grew their family in St. Leon, Indiana. For as long as I could remember we had a tree in the corner of the basement when we all gathered on Christmas day. It is part of the memories of walking in the door each Christmas.
Our family is not small by any means after all, John and MaryAnn had 9 children, 8 of which are living and have built families of their own. It made for a lot of people gathering each year, yes holidays were loud but goodness were they fun. The memories from the days spent together are some of the best I have as a child. It was not Christmas unless you heard, "HEY" coming from Grandpa in the basement because we grandkids were being too loud upstairs! But how can you deny these smiling sweet faces of fun? Considering the attire I am going to say this was about 1991ish and it is missing only one grandchild (I think) I know John and Johnathan the youngest two are not here! Yes there is a couch under there and yes Joe is towering us all. When we were younger we used to fit this photo on the steps in the basement but we outgrew that!
Little did any of us know we would lose our John, my grandfather January 2000. So the Christmas family tree became more of a project to honor what he and grandma had built in our amazing family.
Grandma and Grandpa are always at the top with Johnnie who passed away as a child. We used to be able to group each family together but as our families have grown we are lucky Erica remembers who belongs with whom! Thankfully my sister has helped my mom put this tree up each Thanksgiving as it's a lot of work!
The original tree in 2000 had approximately 65 ornaments. This was all of the family including those who have married in. Each generation is represented in a different color.
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| The very First Horstman Family Ornament Tree |
That little tree always sat in the corner of all of our family celebrations. After Grandma passed away my mom kept the tree in the corner for a while, the tree got bigger and we continued to add more family members to it.
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| The Horstman Tree in 2013 |
I always enjoy each November when mom asks me to add another name. Sure the colors have had to pivot slightly as who would have thought we would grow to so big?
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| The Horstman Tree 2018 I believe the count was around 101 |
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| The Horstman Tree 2021 |
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| The Horstman Tree today 2025 131 family members represented |
When I look at this tree I see the love and legacy that my Grandparents left behind. We still gather in the home they built on Christmas Day. Not everyone can make it, many of us bring our kids and send them a "HEY" every once in a while when they get loud, but our roots are still strong and bonding each of us together. Over the last few years as my kids have grown it has been fun to watch them play sports against their cousins and just become friends. I believe Grandmas is smiling down on us and is proud to see them continue the family connection.
As the count by family goes today here is what is on this tree:
- John & Mary Ann - 3
- Rosemary - 32
- Larry - 10
- Ronnie - 14
- Donna - 19
- Jimmy - 7
- Betty - 10
- David - 23
- Paul - 13
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