3 Favorite Christmas Tree Ornament Traditions

My favorite Christmas tree ornaments are the ones connected to memories about our family activities. As we decorate our tree each year I feel like I'm walking down memory lane.

This year was especially fun because my kids are finally getting old enough that they remember the ornaments from last Christmas, as well as the events connected to them.

Homemade ornaments

Several years ago I began a tradition of making ornaments with my children. We don't do this every year but it's fun to do every couple of years and see the artistic development in each of my children.

In 2007 we made no-bake spiced dough ornaments. At the time Ellie was just over a year old so we only have ornaments from the then 2 and 4 year old "big" boys. We made spiced dough ornaments again this year and have now added Sam and Ellie's to our tree.

Picture frame ornaments

In 2009 as I shopped the after-Christmas sales I found some really cute baseball picture frame ornaments for .50 cents a piece. Knowing that my boys would be playing T-ball in the spring I bought a couple of the ornaments.

When Christmas 2010 rolled around I pulled out our ornaments and my copies of their T-ball pictures. Every time I look at Will's toothless grin I can't help but smile.

Whether your picture frame ornaments are store bought or homemade I love the idea of watching my kids grow up through our Christmas tree ornaments!

Field trip or vacation ornaments

Another tradition I began last year is to buy an ornament from each of the places we visit on a field trip or vacation. This year we added 6 new ornaments to our tree.

My favorite new ornament is this maple sugaring spigot. I bought it after our maple sugar tour in March. It's a real spigot, not an ornament, but I was able to string a ribbon through it to hang on our tree. Every time I look at it I think of a sunny day spent with friends tapping trees and tasting maple sugar water.

Decorating our Christmas tree was a lot of fun this year. With each ornament I pulled out of the box I asked my children, "Remember when..." They really liked seeing things they had made a little guys, looking at their pictures from last year, and remembering the fun we had on field trips.

These are three ornament traditions I plan to continue through the years. At the rate we going, we're going to need a bigger tree soon!

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How to Make a Simple Photo Wreath Ornament

One of the drawbacks of homeschooling for a not-so-crafty person like myself is that all the cute holiday activities and crafts that go with school have to be organized, supervised, and cleaned-up by MOM. And since I'm "Mom" around here, we don't do a lot of those kinds of activities.

However, I am occasionally inspired. So, armed with a memory from my own public school childhood and a couple of crafty blog posts fresh in my mind, we made a Christmas craft this year! (This post originally published in 2009.)

Behold!

The Simple Photo Wreath Ornament!

1. Download snowflake wreath design from www.papersnowflakes.com/wreaths. Print the wreath on the bottom half of 8.5x11 green cardstock. You might have to adjust the size of the wreath.

2. Fold paper in half with wreath on surface (see upper right in 1st picture). Cut around wreath being careful to cut both halves and leave a piece of the fold at the top.  Cut out inner circle of the wreath on the top half.  (See bottom right with girl's photo inserted).  Punch 2 holes in the top near the fold.

3.  Decorate your wreath! We used washable glitter glue.  It added a bit of 3 dimension, sparkle and fun.  These sort of squirt out the glitter glue when squeezed.  Let them dry for several hours.  How long will really depend on how thick your glitter glue is.  We let ours dry overnight just to be safe.

4.  Once they are dry, glue a photo on the inside so that your smiling face is looking out of the wreath.  Let the glue dry.

5.  Cut several inches of ribbon.  Insert the ribbon through the holes and tie a knot.  Now your ornament is ready to hang!

We inserted extra copies of our Compassion children into the wreaths and sent them to Uganda as gifts. I like to think our ornaments make 3 Ugandan moms smile.

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The Visit of the Wise Men

The traditional American celebration of Christmas includes a variety of characters and themes from Santa to sugar cookies to the three Wise Men. I try to include as much of that variety in our Christmas activities and books as possible.

One of my favorite Christmas children's books is The Visit of the Wise Men by Martha Jander. Jander tells the story of the Wise Men with beautiful rhyming text but it's the illustrations that I love about this book.

Each picture is rich in color and detail. The furnishings, clothing and people have a middle eastern feel to them. That seems appropriate since Jesus was born in ancient Israel - not America.

I appreciate that The Visit of the Wise Men helps my children visualize a culture very different from our own.

The Visit of the Wise Men is a great book to add to your Christmas children's book collection!

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