December 10, 2009 11:23 AM
Christmas Ornaments - family tradition
Every year I give each of my children a special Christmas ornament. Each child also has a special box to hold his ornament collection for eleven months between Christmas trees.
Some years I look far and wide to come up with individual ornaments. Some years I get a certain ornament for the boys and a certain ornament for the girls. But with 12 children, over the years I've sometimes been too busy to do much more than get nine translucent pearly angels, or seven porcelain teddy bears with legs that move, or six carousel horses, or four teeny tiny nativity scenes (numbers vary because, after all, I didn't always have 12 kids!)
When we started this tradition, I told the kids, "When you get married, you can take all your ornaments with you for your own Christmas tree." So far four have left with their boxes.
I never thought any further. So a few years ago, I was surprised and delighted when one of my grandsons suddenly noticed, "Grandma! Our mommy has this angel too! And this teddy bear! And this one with Jesus!"
"Yes, I gave those to your mommy when she still lived here with your aunts and uncles. She took hers with her when she married your daddy. "
"Our mommy gives us a special decoration for when we get married, too," my grandsons informed me solemnly. I couldn't help but smile.
This is one of those years when I'm short on time and looking for (now) 8 ornaments for the kids. Here are some at Amazon - all of my kids got the candy cane one year - it comes with a booklet on the Christian symbolism of the candy cane:
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Comments
I have been doing the same thing, for the same reason, almost since my kids were born! All I have to say is that with 12 kids at home at one point, you must have needed a 14-ft tree to hold them all!
God love ya!
Michele
Posted by: Michele Mom of 8 | December 10, 2009 3:09 PM
Doing some simple math...you must need to find one heck of a tree to house all those accumulated ornaments ;)
We do the same thing and each year it is a delight to reminisce over the ornaments.
Posted by: kelly | December 10, 2009 4:02 PM
We have a similar tradition except that I started letting my boys pick out the ornaments when they were old enough. I sometimes regret that decision since I now have Spongebob and Nascar ornaments on my tree, lol.
Posted by: April C. | December 10, 2009 6:38 PM
My family did this growing up, and it was nice to have a meaningful collection when I left home. Many of those ornaments are homemade (pinecones with glitter tips, felt ice skates with paperclip blades, cross-stitched, etc.) and are quite homely because of the age I was when I made them, but now it is fun to be making the same ornaments with my toddler and pre-schooler and they love hearing stories about when I was a little girl and Gramma Pookie helped us make ornaments. Thanks for passing this idea along! You have a ton of great ones! Can't wait to hear more.
Posted by: beccy | December 10, 2009 10:09 PM
beccy,
You reminded me of the ornament I made in kindergarten. It was a toilet roll with macaroni glued on it and spray painted gold, a red string on top. It hung on our tree every year. The year I was married my mom presented me with a new version of the ornament. She couldn't part with the original.
Posted by: kelly | December 11, 2009 10:00 AM
