As a former school teacher, I received many ornaments from my students. By the time we started our family, I had a tree full of ornaments. When Ashley was born, I decided to jumpstart her ornament collection so she didn’t have to wait until she was an adult.
This is another one of my favorite family Christmas traditions. Each year, I give my kids an ornament. Originally, I simply chose an ornament that was cute. One day a friend of mine told me how she chose their annual ornaments. She looked back on the previous year to see what happened in each child’s life. Then, she chose an ornament that represented that year.
- When my child learned to read, I found a book ornament.
- When my child learned to drive, I found a car ornament.
- When we went to Costa Rica for vacation, I found monkey ornaments.
I write the year on each ornament so my kids have a box of memories when they leave home. When they decorate their own tree, in their own home, they can remember fun times growing up.
This year I found a teacher snowman for Ashley because she is teaching 1st grade to at-risk kids. Jesse works at Texas A&M, so he got a snowman wearing a tie. Gentry finished her internship in the University of Rice Athletics department, so she got a cute football with a Santa hat. Since Hunter worked at T-Bar-M Christian Sports Camp last summer, I looked for a camp counselor ornament but couldn’t find one. Since he was a tennis coach, I gave him a tennis ball with a Santa hat on top.
Even though my kids are in their twenties, they still ask what their new ornament is this year. Isn’t it interesting how a 20 year old tradition becomes engrained in us.
Question: What Christmas traditions does your family have?
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