Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A Tree With a Story Pt. 2

For part one of A Tree With a Story click here. Before we can talk about the ornaments, we have to put up the tree.

We have a new tree this year - no stringing on the lights because it is pre-lit - what a bonus! I know we are behind the times, but we now see what all the fuss was about - what an awesome invention.

Now to my favorite part - taking the ornaments out of the boxes. As I unwrap each ornament, memories come charging back and for a minute I am right there in the moment. What an amazing experience and something I look forward to each year. Once all the ornaments are ready to be placed on the tree it is time to go to the hall closet and gather all the goodies we have bought or been given over the year. Here are the 2008 ornaments.

This hard to read Ornament is from our trip in August to Savannah. The buildings are all the major landmarks in Savannah. We actually found this in the airport on our way home.
The CEO of Jeremy's company (my former boss) brought this back to us from her European holiday with her husband. They bought it while in Vienna - the little man painted inside is Mozart.
Ahhh - the sweet moose ornament. Of course we bought these (actually my parents bought them for us) while in Colorado. I chose this one because it reminded me of our trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which we would not have visited if Meredith had not recommended it. Every time I unwrap this for future Christmases it will remind me of meeting my new friend Meredith at Agia Sophia.
This one will remind us of our day in Cripple Creek, our time playing at Focus on the Family, my tea at Glen Eyrie with my mom and our beautiful view of the mountains.
This ornament was on Granny's tree and we asked if we could have it as a memory of her. Granny loved spending holidays with her family and we missed her very much over Thanksgiving and we will miss her on Christmas but it brings me joy to know that she is having the best Christmas ever! I can't even dream what it must be like to have cake with THE birthday boy. It gives me chills thinking about my grandparents and Granny singing Happy Birthday in person to Jesus. Amazing.
My mom loves Christmas and loves to buy ornaments throughout the year. She bought this one for our family at a Craft Fair this fall. What a cute little gingerbread family.
My friend Kim, who I co-lead the Bible Study group with, gave me this for Christmas. It reminds me of her because she is a pillar of strength and she has been through so much in the last five years. The neatest part is that anyone who watches her knows that her strength does not come from within but from her rock Jesus. I am thankful for our friendship.
C. made his first ornament at preschool this year. It was fun to watch him find the perfect spot to place it on the tree.

Well that should have been it for the tour of our Christmas tree but guess what I received in the mail today (which is actually the 22nd)? My Christmas present from my sweet friend Amy! It was full of goodies that she brought back for me from their family trip to WDW this month. Here are the three ornaments that she sent us. Love you girl!

Santa Mickey with glittery ears (M.'s favorite).

She knows me so well! Even though I am not usually a pink girl - seeing this ornament almost brought tears to my eyes. Amy knows that in a house full of men that I could use a little pink because every girl has an inner Princess that they want to let out from time to time. Lastly, our Snowman Mickey - R & C's favorite - they like his Mickey buttons.

Happy Christmas Eve to you all!
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5 comments:

Sing4joy said...

I feel the same way about unwrapping our ornaments. I had to switch a couple of years ago though and let the kids unpack and decorate the tree. Now I do my walk down memory lane while carefully packing them away for next year. A lovely tree you have! Thank you for sharing. That reminds me that we have to pick our ornament for this year - perhaps a Texas one since we are here visiting.

care-in said...

I love your ornament tradition!

Gretchen said...

Ah...ornaments...yes, I feel the same way.

Guess what? We had ornaments from Savannah and SC on our tree, to. :)

His Girl said...

How fun to get ornaments on vacations... we always get refrigerator magnets, but now I'm thinking I might want to steal this idea... love it!

Lisa Smith said...

I just love your tree!!