Favorite Christmas Ornaments

Jolanthe over at No Ordinary Moments is hosting a "Christmas Ornaments Show and Tell." I couldn't resist!

I love decorating our tree each year. When we got married, we pulled together all of our ornaments--mine from my childhood, and many of my husbands family ornaments from childhood as well. Then we started collecting our own. I will admit that the first year or two I went a bit crazy and bought way to many ornaments. It was just so much fun to select things that were just for us.

This ornament is one that I bought the year we were married. It is a Swarovski limited edition ornament. They make one every year. I bought them for a few years, then realized (once kiddo was born) that if I bought too many, our tree would be covered in crystal, not exactly what I was going for. So I bought just the ones for special years--so far, the years my kids were born. I'll add as I see fit. My kids love these ornaments because they cast rainbows about the whole room when the sun hits them.

One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood Christmas trees is getting to put my very own ornaments on the tree. I wanted to pass that on to my kids, so they have been collecting their own ornaments from birth. They both have this one, from their very first Christmas. They are engraved on the heart with their names and birth date.

When my grandparents downsized from their house to an apartment, they also downsized their Christmas ornament collection. I was the lucky recipient of this wise man. He was part of a set (my sisters received the other parts) and I remember them hanging on their tree. It brings back tons of wonderful Christmas memories.

This is one I have had forever. It was made for me when I was young by my great aunt. It has always been one of my favorite ornaments. I have tried to duplicate the pattern--without success--so I can give one to each of my children along with the other children I give ornaments every year. One of these years I will figure it out!