Enjoy (especially you, mom)!!
Tonight's post is about Christmas ornaments.
The first Christmas after my parents divorced, my mom wanted to start some new traditions with me. For Christmas, she decided she'd buy a special ornament for me each year. The first year was 1997--I think--and she ended up getting me 2 or 3 ornaments. Ever since that Christmas, mom has bought each of us, including my brothers and their wives, special ornaments that represent something about that year. By now, I have a plethora of special ornaments that I really enjoy pulling out each year to put on my tree. Of course, I have added other ornaments, but for the most part, B and my tree is always decorated with our special ornaments. Here's just a few of our favorites!
I believe this is one of the first ornaments my mom got me when I was a teenager. It says "Mother and Daughter," and is made of porcelain. I like this one because my mom and I really do have a great relationship and it reminds me that I'm the luckiest daughter in the world!
Every year while I was at college, my roommates and I did a roommate Christmas right before we left for break. We would draw names and give a gift to the roommate we picked. This year, my roommate and best college friend, Sheena, gave me an ornament that said, "Happy Holidays from BYU-Idaho." Not only is it my favorite color, it always reminds me of the fun times I had with Sheena.
As part of our German heritage, we always include the pickle ornament on our tree. This one was given to us by mom a few years ago. The German pickle ornament has a tradition that we've never done, but will start when there are little kids in our house! You are supposed to hide the pickle ornament on Christmas Eve and then the child who finds the pickle receives a special gift. I love this idea.
The Army was a big part of our life before we got married. My mom and I picked out this ornament for Ben the year he returned from his mission and we started dating (2002). This little Santa holds an American Flag and the little wires hanging from his body have army boots at the bottom. Ben was called up to Iraq just a few short weeks after this Christmas. 
Ben got this ornament two years ago, the year he bought his motorcycle. I think this fits him perfectly because like Santa in his sleigh, Ben also has been known to ride his bike in the snow.
Part of our winter-wedding theme was snowflakes. We had snowflakes on the table and cake. Needless to say, at the end of the day, we had collected a tremendous amount of said snowflakes, which are sparkly and covered with glitter. Being the sentimentalist (is that a word?) that I am, I saved not one, not two, but ALL of the snow flakes (I never counted, but it's a big Ziploc bag stuffed full). I decided to use some in picture frame displays of our wedding pictures. When Christmas rolled around and our tree was oh-so-Charlie Brownish with hardly any decorations, I became instantly crafty by tying red ribbon on the snowflakes and turned them into ornaments. I don't use all of the snowflakes, but I have many of the snowflakes acting as permanent residents of our Christmas tree each year.
My mom was probably the one most proud of me when I was preparing for my student teaching. I student taught from January to April, so the Christmas right before I started my student teaching adventure, mom got me this ornament that says "Teacher." I also received a teacher ornament the sad, sad year I spent as a lowly substitute teacher. I truly do love being a teacher and at this point in the school year, it's nice to unwrap my teacher ornaments and realize that I do have an important job that (usually) makes me really happy. 
Blast from the past! When I was a senior in high school, I was working on my Laurel project (for Young Women's at church). I decided, with the help of a very creative leader, to do a tree for Festival of Trees. The theme was "The Hearts of the Children Turn to their Fathers." It was a pioneer/heart/hand theme...as random as that sounds...and it turned out really great & even sold! We had the Young Women help with making the ornaments and this is one of the pioneer bonnet ornaments that we made. This one in particular has been through a lot and is no longer stiff like it used to be, but it brings back great memories of my first Festival tree. 
This ornament was ours to share the first Christmas we were married. Though it may be hard to read, it says "Our First Christmas Together." We were still living in Idaho but came for Christmas. This was also the year I got my Subaru...a great Christmas, if you ask me! It's fun to look at this one and remember that tough first year of marriage and now to realize it's almost been 5 years!
This ornament is special for two reasons. First, our Idaho friends, Toby and Tammy, became our best friends my last year of school. Tammy and I were both English Ed. majors and finally got together with our hubby's the last real semester of school. Tammy was (and still is) way crafty and made us a snowman ornament out of a lightbulb (not the one pictured). I thought it was so dang cute. Second, last year, I decided it was time to stretch my crafty wings and make ornaments for gifts for ward friends and teacher friends. This is one of my prototypes. It's kind of sad if you look too closely, but I hang it up to remind myself that, yes, I can be crafty, too!
This is another ornament mom got me the Christmas before I got married (2003) This little pouch has several heart ornaments inside that look like the heart on the front. Each ornament says "Love" in a different language. I used these ornaments as part of a display for our wedding reception. I love, love, love this ornament.
My dad is a HUGE "I Love Lucy" fan. He got me this ornament when I was in high school. I always giggle when I pull this out because it reminds me of my dad and his fun obsession with the red-head, which he has somewhat passed on to me--though, I don't claim to be as big a fan as him!Well, if you made it through that long post, congratulations! Keep coming back this week for more Christmas Cheer (specifically you, mom!!!)
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