Tree-dition : Ornaments!

As with a lot of my other decorations, many of the ornaments that go on our tree have sentimental value. The first of these are ornaments I inherited from my Mother. These three ornaments were made by my Mom's Beepa during a time when love was one of the only things her family had to share. I recognized their value as a child and was honored to receive these three to be my own when I first moved away from home. My Mom always tries to put one of these ornaments up first, which is a tradition she has passed on to me.

This fall, my Mammie passed away. Mammie was Beepa's wife. Last Christmas all of my cousins and I received a bird ornament (which represented a tree planted in our honor) from Mammie. I felt it was fitting to put the bird next to one of Beepa's felt ornaments. They are together now and I hope they look down on all our Christmases with a smile, knowing that we remember them.

My husband puts few ornaments on the tree. Actually, this year, the only ones he put up are the ones you see below. We receive various ornaments with our names on them, usually attached to gifts. I'm not sure if it was the first year we lived away from home or last year, but since then his only ornament-hanging desire revolves around pairing matched ornaments that have our names on them. In ornament form, we cuddle next to each other on the tree throughout the season.

** Correction: He also hung a turtle ornament. He used to have two turtles that we got on our senior spring break trip to Florida. He sold them before we moved to the condo for various reasons, but fortunately he has a turtle ornament to remember them by.

I am blessed to have a wonderful relationship with my sister. Two years ago she gave me a couple of ornaments for my first tree away from home. The one below is one of them. I love her.

My sister, not the ornament. Well, the ornament too, but my sister more. :)

Below is an ornament Hubby received last year. He drives a big silver car, so this is a great ornament to represent him... except for the glitter. He hates glitter.

This pipe-cleaner candy cane was given to me last year by my younger cousin Aidan. It was a very sweet gift and I smiled and went "awww" when I saw it in the box of ornaments.

This next ornament was a wedding gift. Although it is not our very first Christmas together, this is our first Christmas as a married couple. Our newlywed Christmas.

The next ornaments were a bridal shower gift. They are from Hubby's Aunt Gloria, who also made the delicious fudge we brought home after Thanksgiving. She is so good to us! This is the "Bride's Collection" from Old World Christmas and they are beautiful. Each represent something different. The one shown close up on the tree is the wedding heart, which represents True Love.

Finally, this ornament is from our honeymoon to St. Lucia. I carefully carried it in my carry-on on the trip home. It is very delicate and we were so glad to get it back in one piece.

There are many more ornaments I could share, but these are some of the most sentimental. I am so glad to have things that represent the love of the season. I'm even more glad to have family and friends to share that love with as well.

Happy Tuesday!