I enjoy buying Christmas ornaments for my family. Each year I like to find a perfect ornament that speaks to me about each of them and myself. Why yes, I do buy myself an ornament each year as well! I’ve established an eclectic collection of ornaments that tell a family history though most people just think they look cute on the tree.
This year I found the perfect ornaments at The Christmas Store in Smithfield. Because I added them to my family’s stockings, I can’t show them to you yet. However, I can show you one of them. My youngest will be out of state for Christmas so we celebrated Christmas with him the other day, and he opened his ornament. He loved it as much as I did. The store had two lacrosse player ornaments, but I was especially tickled with this one because it happened to be his team colors. See for yourself how well I did with this one! I was tempted to paint his number on the jersey.
Lacrosse was my favorite of all the team sports my sons played. I sure miss lacrosse. More than that I sure am going to miss having my baby home for Christmas this year. It is one of those years of accepting…yes, they do grow up and move on and move out…but life is good.
Great post thanks. I really enjoyed it very much.
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Thanks for the comparison shots. You did do well on that one! Those are the best ornaments, the ones that tell a story.
I love the stories behind the ornaments….even if youngest thinks “baby’s first Christmas” is Baby Jesus in a carriage!
Wow, it’s almost a miracle getting an ornament that close to your son’s colors. The comparison shots tell the story. How you will cherish them year after year! It’s a lovely idea.
We did a similar thing with the trees in our back yard. My daughter started it off by giving me a beautiful flowering crabapple tree for Mother’s Day. We called it the Laurie tree (her name). Then we got another tall crabapple tree and called it the Tom tree (my son’s name). Then we got a burr oak and that was my tree. To round off the human part of the family, a Dutch cherry tree for my husband. THEN three flowering bushes for our three little shih tzus. When I look out in the back yard, I see our whole family.
I was delighted to have found it.
This is fabulous, family trees! I just love this and especially that you included the dogs who are absolutely part of the family!
Love this tradition! They look exactly the same! We do something similar in February when I make a heart, one for each of the folks I love in my house to sum of the year they’ve just lived. http://altaredspaces.com/2010/02/hang-your-heart-on-a-tree/
I remember that post and loved the idea! In fact, I almost made ornaments this years because of that post…I might still make some yet!
We have a few meaningful ornaments on our tree, but with Sprite getting to pick her own, it may end up being a Princess tree soon…
A princess tree would be pretty!
I love ornaments that mean something. Finding the one with his colors is amazing! We have so many memories on our trees from ornaments we bought. It really is a precious idea.
They’re “identical.” Very cool! Glad you got to celebrate early with your youngest.
This is our first year without one of our kids on Christmas day…and we knew this day would come. At least we had a nice early celebration.
What lovely ornaments! I know your son was delighted. I have such a huge collection it’s sort of a shame we just get a small tree now. Still, I rotate the ones I like most year after year. Some of them were hand made by my mother. Others were from a dear man, a florist, who brought me and my children a fully decorated Christmas tree when the kids were young and times were very tough. Lovely post!
That’s so sweet, Linda.
That’s amazing how your son and his ornament look so similar! Isn’t it exciting when you find something like that? I am sure he loved it.This year my kids both got donkeys for their special ornament- a memo of our donkey ride down Santorini. These are the kinds of things that will always hold memories.It is a great family tradition.
Traditions and memories…the sweetness of life!
Awesome! Ditto to everything already said. I was struck by the fact that the uniform colors are so Christmas-appropriate.
Yes, nothing says Christmas quite like the color red!
His number on there would be perfect! Totally cool ornament!
Think I’m going to have to paint it on there!
Wasn’t that a coup?! Amazing how we can float for days when some really perfect item can be found.
I just love it when it happens.
Suzicate,
Traditions sure spice up life and accumulating special decorations is one of those gold nuggets. My human always hangs a half-dozen strange looking ornaments on the tree. All are egg shaped and for good reason- They’re made from egg shells that tiny holes were made in both ends and the yoke and white “blown” out. Clay, cotton, and cloth combined with some great paintin transform these into art in the forms of the heads of a clown, an elf, a reindeer, a snowman and Santa himself. They’re 100 years old take lots of preserving but bring back memories of times and people long past.
Sandy
http://www.sandysays1.wordpress.com
Wow, these sound absolutely amazing!
Perfect. I was excited with you.
I can’t wait to hear about the others!
I love Christmas ornaments!
Christmas ornaments are one of my favorite things about decorating. I used to go to a cookie bake/ornament exchange every year…then I decided though it was fun I’d rather have (bake) the cookies I like and get ornaments that are personal to me, so I stopped going and made these things into big events for me on a personal level.
For me unwrapping/unpacking each ornament is like Christmas. I love it. I love the memories attached to some of them. Ahhhh.
Christmas is a time of memories … every year when we go help my mother put up her tree, we get to go through the box of memories … the family Christmas ornaments.
I love the memories!
What a great tradition!
I love traditions!
I sure do love my new beautiful beagle ornament! Good memories good friends good times. Thank you so much!
I’m glad you are enjoying it! Loved getting together with you!
I find myself relating to you in many ways, and this is just another. Although I don’t buy them for myself, over the years Mark has bought me Christmas ornaments and now I have a nice little collection. Like you, I like the ones that are little figures, almost toys. I have a convertible with a Christmas tree for the year that our oldest was young and loved hotwheels. I have a Barbie ornament from when our daughter wanted nothing but Barbies. In 2009 I got a little white dog ornament, the same year we got Arthur. I love these ornaments.
I love that you have a memory tree as well at Christmas time. I can just sit in front of my tree and glance at the ornaments for hours just filled with a warm heart of good memories.