Heirloom Ornaments

Like a lot of people, almost every year I purchase one ornament for each of my children.  An ornament that represents something significant that transpired for them that year.  

My hope is that this memento of the year gone by will some day jog their memory or remind them of a story  and allow them to walk ornament by ornament through portions of their childhood. 

I also  have a few treasured hand-me-down ornaments, including these which belonged to my great grandmother:

Pink and gold Christmas bells

My Brownie Troop leader helped me make this ornament when I was  6 using a photo taken in her front yard and a curtain ring:

This is a set of ornaments created from the Hey Diddle Diddle mobile hanging over my crib when I was a baby (and no, the Consumer Products Safety Commission didn’t exist then).

I love the homemade ornaments too - and am glad I had the forethought to place the date on the backs of  most of them.  These little wooden ornaments from my childhood were simple enough to recreate with my own children.

My own 3-D sheep painted in the 70s

Ornaments my children painted in 2000

I do love a Christmas tree with color coordinated lights, decorations and garland, the kind you see at the mall  or those beautiful monochromatic trees you see in magazines but for me the sentimental Christmas tree is incomparable.