Saturday, December 14, 2013

Christmas Ornaments



One of my absolute favorite things about Christmas is decorating the Christmas tree.  I have memories going back to when I was a kid, gathered in the living room with lights, garland and ornaments surrounding us. Christmas music playing in the background and drinking hot chocolate.

My parents never had a "themed" tree. My mom collected ornaments and whether she bought them or was given, all had a special meaning.  Her love of ornaments rubbed off on me, and I started collecting them not long before we bought our first home.

The first ornament I purchased for our tree the first year we lived here was a round ball ornament, and I had my fathers name put onto it.  Unfortunately, it got broken 2 years ago (I was pretty heartbroken about it); Santa however managed to find a small personalized bell/ball ornament with his name on it, and it made it's way into my stocking that year. Not the same as the one I bought, but makes me happy to see it.


Most of the ornaments on our tree tell a story:

My mom bought us a "Our first home" ornament in 2004 when we celebrated our first Christmas (also happened to get engaged that Christmas morning)

We were given bride and groom ornaments from both my mom and hubby's parents in 2006, the year we wed.


There are so many ornaments on our tree that tell a story - the small salt dough hand print of Mr. J's from his first Christmas that I gave hubby that year (2007).

Mr. J and Mr. K's first Christmas ornaments (they are round ball ornaments that were hand painted and personalized from a family friend)

A few ornaments the kids have made

An ornament from our DisneyWorld vacation in 2011

And our "family" ornaments

 What is your Christmas tree like? Do you create a theme every year, or is it more a collection of eclectic ornaments that each tell their own story?  I would love to hear what your favorite ornament is!

8 comments:

  1. Those are beautiful ornaments! I love that they each tell a story. We don't go for a theme either, because I just love to collect different ornaments. We have a few ornaments that are consistent, like each year for a few years my mom gave the kids pewter frame ornaments so we could put little pictures of the kids in them. Very cute.

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  2. Awwww. This is so special. I have great memories of mine as a kid. But, its funny, now that I have kids, I don't look at them the same, but I know that THEY are.

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  3. Awwww, those are so cute! If we had a tree, ours would tell a story like this. :) I made a bunch of ornaments last year with my girls and more this year. Last year, I got them personalized little balls like your first picture here. This year, I ordered personalized ornaments from Ornaments with Love for Jade (her first Christmas) and our family. I love the idea of a special ornament to represent each year! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  4. LOVE IT! Like you, are tree tells a story too! It makes it more unique and special. Although it doesn't look designer, its the perfect tree for our family!

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  5. I love trees with ornaments that have personal meaning. Our tree is a mix of everything too, with one ornament that is over 100 years old.

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  6. Our ornaments are like that too. Unfortunately we put them all in storage to stage the house for sale so now this year we are getting creative and so we are letting the kids have full reign on ornaments and a fun little fashion fake tree this year. Why not?

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  7. We buy a new family ornament every year and add ornaments my girls make.

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  8. We have a mix of ornaments on our tree. We are slowly getting more and more handmade ones by the girls as each year goes by though!

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