December 18, 2011 10:05 PM
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 this same tradition at our house. Out of 9 kids, 3 have taken their ornaments when they got married (we use popcorn can tins for their collections). It saddened my heart the first CHRISTmas my oldest son was married.....his wife wanted a tree that had all matching ornaments on it. I believe that lastest only that first CHRISTmas :) I still continue the tradition with my kids and the grandkids that are here for CHRISTmas.
A very blessed CHRISTmas to you and your family
Posted by: Vickie | December 19, 2011 10:04 AM
We do this too! Every year on St. Nicks day our kids get an ornament in their stocking. I've also started wondering if my son's future wife would appreciate the tradition. I even told him this year that if a girl he was dating didn't think our tradition was cool, maybe she wasn't the one for him. :-)
Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Maggie | December 20, 2011 11:56 AM
