Old Friends

I love opening the container with Christmas ornaments. Every year I feel like I’m greeting old friends as we take them out and hang them on the tree. What great memories they hold!

When I was growing up , my parents would buy my a Christmas ornament.  That way when I got old enough to move out, I would take them with me and not have a sad, bare tree.  Their plan worked great.  In addition to my own personal ornaments, my parents let me take whatever ones I wanted because my Mom didn’t want to put up a tree anymore.  The reindeer ornament in the photo above is a favorite.  It has the year, 1987 and my name on the other side.  I’ve been hanging in on my tree for 25 years.  Talk about an old friend!

Imagine my surprise and delight when The Man told me that his parents had done the same thing!  We even have some of his childhood Christmas decorations (like his advent calendar.)  Having these items from our childhood thrills me.  I tend to be sentimental and I love having pieces from the past.

Since we have ornaments from both of us our tree is a little eclectic.  The Man’s ornaments are predominantly Star Trek themed.  They’re the cool ornaments that plug into the lights and they make noise and light up.  I really enjoy them and not just because I have too!  Mine are random and are mostly bulbs.  Then there are the ones we’ve acquired since getting married, like the globe ornament we got on our honeymoon or the Disney one from our trip last year.

Breakables always go near the top of the tree and nonbreakables go on the bottom.  I’ve been doing this since before munchkin.  Curious kitties and puppy dog tails have been known to remove ornaments.  Our bottom branches are all our plush ornaments.  We have an Eeyore, a Stitch and some Bath & Body Works sheep, among others.

We’re going to continue the tradition of buying ornaments for Munchkin that she can take with her when she grows up and moves out.  She’s gotten 4 ornaments this year alone!  One is a gorgeous one from Nana.  It’s her name and is gold plated.  My first thoughts when I saw it was I don’t want her to take it when she leaves in 18 years!  Thankfully it will grace our family tree for many years to come before that happens.  Maybe by then I’ll be able to part with Rudolf and she can have one my childhood ornaments as well.  Maybe, because as you can see, Rudolf is well loved!

Do you have any traditions regarding decorating your Christmas tree?

What are your favorite ornaments?