It all started with these three tiny baby blocks. My first son was just two months old when I stopped by a shop selling Christmas decorations. It was only August, but as I held my baby in my arms as I browsed, I bought this tiny little ornament of three baby blocks to hang on our tree to celebrate our first baby and his first Christmas.
Fast forward twenty-one years. Time has flown. Boy has it flown! Now our tree is filled with special ornaments. Each year I bought an ornament that seemed to "fit" my child and his interests that year.
At first there were teddy bears, Christmas trains (lots and lots of trains since he was a huge train lover). Blown glass kids dressed in karate garb, trombones with sheet music, Garfield, guitars, and many, many more.
When our second son was born, eleven years later, I carried on the same tradition. With our second son we've added cub scouts, cars, and basketballs. And many more to come. Oh how our tree shines with all of these special mementos!
I decided I would buy an ornament until they were 21. Then, when they move to their own places one day, I would give them all of their special ornaments to hang on their trees. I am still searching, frantically I must say, for that special ornament for my 21 year old. But I will find it, I will find it...
How empty our tree will be some day, but what wonderful memories and stories my boys will have as they decorate their trees each year. It makes me smile.
I'm sure many of you have beautiful "designer" trees. Ones that I ooooh and aaaah over each year. And I'm sure there are some of you, who like me, have trees that are filled with 'little mementos' of your children's lives. Whatever your tree looks like, it would be wonderful to see all of them in our flickr group this week as we move closer and closer to that special day. Help us fill the page with color and bokeh, won't you? And as you're doing some of your holiday baking this week, please share one of your favorite recipes with us. Just add it to the discussion section of our flickr page.
And by the way, did you see Terri's exciting announcement yesterday? We're having a special give-away to celebrate our first year, and all of you - for following us, leaving kind comments, and adding your photos to our flickr page! If you didn't see it, check it out here!
I'm wishing you all happy holidays, and a healthy new year to come!
12 comments:
Judy, you have just described my tree! I call it our memory tree! There are ornaments from my childhood, the ornaments I bought for our very first tree, handmade ornaments, and ornaments that represent special times in our lives!! I spend extra time decorating the tree this year; holding each ornament, reflecting, and then taking a picture of each one. That turned out to be hundres of images!! I'm planning on making an ablum of our Christmas ornaments so their stories will not be lost!
I also wanted to add that I love your tree shot!! How fun!! I see that you have multi-colored lights, also!! I love multi-colored lights!!
Oh, Judy, I could have written this! Every year I bought an ornament for each of my three boys, ones that reflected their interests at the time. Each one is so special to me and I loved when we would unpack them each year how excited they would get at rediscovering each ornament. Yes, some of my friends have trees that look like they came out of a magazine but I prefer my tree of memories! Thanks for this wonderful post!
We are starting over (again) this year. Last summer, our ornaments were lost when the house burned. Everything was gone, including my beautiful nativity that I set out each year for the last 27 or so years. This year, my tree is "designer," sort of. I picked a theme--red, green, gold balls, glitter white angels and snowflakes. But then. . . I saw an ornament that said "First Christmas in Our New Home." Fitting. . . . Then beside it was a silver ornament, "Family." A purple peacock? Why not? Another purple bird (maybe a pheasant?) Okay. Jingle bells? Sure. So much for the designer tree. And welcome the creation of a new memory tree!
No designer tree for me! Almost every one of our ornaments is homemade, those that are not are gifts from family and friends. Every year I declare that, "This is our best tree ever!" Sweet post, Judy! And Merry Christmas!!
No fancy "hands off" tree for us, but you should hear our kids as they take out the ornaments from the Rubbermaid box I keep them in. I think that's 90% of the fun of decorating every year, hearing them say, "oh! Remember when we went to the Kennedy Center for that concert, and we bought this?" Such a fun time of year this is!
Your tree sounds lovely! It is so fun to unwrap each ornament and remember who gave it to us, who made it, or why we chose that ornament. We have some that were wedding gifts - 29 years ago now. And the colored lights - yes, my kids talked me into colored lights a few years ago, telling me that I always use white. I do think they're pretty. Thanks for all of your kind comments throughout the year Cathy. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
It sounds like you've got a great start to a brand new tree. The ornaments sound lovely. You will have a new memory tree in no time! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I say the same thing Dotti - that this is our best tree ever! So funny! Merry Christmas to you too Dotti.
I get just as big a kick out of opening up all of the ornaments each year as the kids do. It's funny how you kind of forget from year to year what you have. Then it's always a nice surprise when they're opened! Merry Christmas Katie, and wishes for a happy and healthy new year.
Agree on all counts. PLus I add something else. I always buy an ornament or something that could be used as an ornament when I a on vacation. That way, along with my kid memories, we can all remember the good times we had on our trips. I have them all the way back to my trips with girlfriends before I was married. - My tree is very country and not at all rock and roll (except for a guitar ornament for my son). And BTW - there is also an ornament for every pet I've ever had!
Great post Judy!
Such a fun tree ornament tradition. I did something very similar for my girls when they were growing up, and am now doing the same thing for my 2 grandchildren. So much fun, and such a good tradition!
Post a Comment
Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. If for any reason you are unable to leave a comment here on this post, please leave your comment on our Facebook page or in our Flickr discussion group. We love hearing from you!