Thursday, December 8, 2011

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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1 comment:

Carrie said...

=D I was trying to figure out the sugar spigot before reading your description. NOPE! I needed help!

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