Thursday, December 9, 2010

A few of my favorite things...ornaments

This year was an abbreviated tree decorating year. Instead of filling every branch with ornaments we choose the ones that were most important and put them up. The reason? Well, I thought it was because I had a two -year-old, but as it turns out, it looks like I did it that way due to lack of energy to keep going, because my son hasn't bothered with the tree at all!

Every year, when I put up the ornament, I think about where they came from. I remember doing this when I was younger and saying "Mommy, who got this one?". It was always special to hear the stories of where our ornaments came from. I thought that I would share the stories of the ones that made it to our tree this year.


This ornament is the Hallmark Millennium time capsule ornament that my Mom got that year. This is one of my new favorite ornaments, because the time capsule actually opens up and and there is a scroll inside with information about what was going on as we headed into the new Millennium. Mom take the time just to jot a couple pieces of information, all of which were positive, and bring back fond memories. Mom said that she wished that she would have bought two of them, one for me and one for my brother. As luck would have it, I found one at a garage sale a few years ago and it is being held for my brother. I look forward to pulling out this ornament every year. I love looking back and thinking about how far we have come. I think that I am going to add another piece of paper to that ornament this year and update where we are 10 years later.


We have a set of 4 of these little icicle snowmen. They were a grab bag gift to our family from my Aunt Deb about 10ish years ago. I loved them as soon as we opened them, and begged for them when I put up my first Christmas tree. My first Christmas tree was awesome! I decided that since I could do whatever I wanted (I knew Scott wouldn't care), I wanted to have a tree that was all glass, silver, and snowmen. These fit in PERFECTLY!


This cute little ornament takes me back to 1991 (thank you for dating them Grandma!). That year, when my grandparents came up from Florida in the summer, my Grandma taught me how to make them with scrape fabric. I remember that we kept losing the patterns, so she would have me run all around the house looking for objects that were circles so that each one would be slightly smaller than the previous. We made a LOT of these little trees that summer, but I have about 4 of them left. I think we gave them all to different members of the family. My Mom still has one that we did that was bigger, like for a table. These bring back fun memories of learning new crafts with Grandma. She was always teaching me something new!


This little rocking horse (his rocker has been broken in the box for well over 10 years) was a gift to me from my best friend when I was about 5. Amy and I went to daycare together and decided to get each other gifts for Christmas. She gave me this rocking horse and all I remember is that I was so excited to have my own ornament to put on the tree that year! It really is beautiful though! Each year when I take it out, I feel like a little kid again when I remember how many trees that I have put that ornament on. It even make it to the tree the year that I had to have all glass, silver, and snowmen!



This is a recent addition to our tree! This was given to us the year that Matthew was born. Well, I guess technically, it was given to him by my husband's Aunts in Florida. We told them that we really loved trains and had hoped to get Matthew into trains. My husband and I also happen to really love Disney. This ornament was perfect! Also, before my son's first birthday (he was about 9 months old) we were all able to make our first Disney trip. We met up with, and spent a few days with his Aunts while we were there. We had a blast. I will never forget that trip and this ornament reminds me of that.



This little guy is nothing fancy. Just a glass snowman that when you put a Christmas light in the bottom of him, he lights up very beautifully. This is obviously from the time of glass, silver, and snowmen. In fact, it was the first ornament that I ever bought for my own tree back in 2004. Really, I think it was the only one I bought. I remember it primarily for the fact that I was about to get this, which I think is just lovely, for just a dollar at the dollar store. I think it was a nice find!


This recent addition is just joining our tree for the first time this year. This is a Winnie the Pooh, 2008, Lenox ornament. I wanted to buy this for Matthew when he was first born, but those Lenox ornaments are pretty pricey. However, Macy's always has older ornaments that they are stuck with during the summer months. This summer, I was able to acquire this ornament for about $5! I was excited to buy it and now I am excited to have it on my tree! Someday, I'll pass it on to Matthew and tell me about how I got it for just $5 at Macy's...and hopefully it will end up on his tree!

Those are my favorite ornaments and their special meanings. I am so grateful to be able to look back and think of the special moments that came with each of these ornaments. Each one holds a special place in my heart (even the ones that did not make it to front lines this year).

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