Christmas Tradition

When my first child was born back in 1999, My husband and I decided it would be neat to get him a new ornament each year to hang on the Christmas tree. When he was little, we picked out the ornament for him. As he's gotten older and two sisters have come along, we've continued this tradition with each child. Now, however, the children pick out their own ornaments each year. We take a trip to some store and everyone chooses something they like. Then on the way home we look at Christmas lights in different neighborhoods.

The plan is that when each kid is old enough and moves out on their own, they'll have their own set of ornaments to hang on their Christmas tree. Seems like a good idea, doesn't it?

Yeah, it did to us, too. But I can't help thinking that when my daughters are 17 they are going to ask us why we ever let them pick out the ornaments they did. And when my son gets engaged or married, his fiancee or wife is going to ask us how we could stand so many Star Wars/ Superhero/ train ornaments on one tree. I'm always hopeful when one of my kids pick up a pretty little nativity ornament or a traditional glass bulb. Then reality sinks in when their eyes spy a bright, glittery, enormous blue star, or a white glass cat with feathery tail, a BIG pink glass girl carrying a basket of flowers, or an ornament with R2-D2 and a jawa. I can't say no when I see that big smile look up at me with their special ornament in hand, and we come home and add one more "fancy" ornament to our tree.





It's a fun tradition, but our tree will never be the same again.

Here is our newest addition (can you guess which darling picked this one out?):