Every year, I purchase each of my kids a special ornament that relates to something special they did that year. I really enjoy this tradition because it makes every ornament on our tree all that more special. Each year as we hang our special ornaments, we tell the story of why we chose that ornament and what it means to us.
When my children move out, I will give them all their special ornaments to hang on their own tree. This way they start their own Christmas celebrations with a tree rich in memories. Plus I will always be a part of their Christmas celebration even after I am gone.
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I have done the same thing for my two children. They are both in their twenties and I still continue the tradition. I also started a notebook with this tradition so I can write down the year of each ornament. This came in handy especially when they started school and would make ornaments,not only for their parents,but for themselves. I also noted in this any other ornament they might have received from someone else or picked up at a special event. It is a tradition I will continue and hope my children will do so when they have kids of their own.
We do something similar. Every year since our first year of marriage, we have purchased a new Disney ornament (usually with the year on it somewhere) that we hang on the tree. With each passing year, our Christmas tree is getting fuller and fuller.
My mom and her sister have a nice orniment tradition they do. They have an orniment that opens up and they put little gifts in it and pass it back and forth every year.
we do this as well. We have gotten the boys orniments of what they were for hallpween that year. Lots of sports ones with thier jersey numbers on them from that season. We have ones from Disney from our vacations. We got a Disnelylands 50th anniversary ones when we were there and gotten Mickey heads that look like pumpkins the years we went to MNNSHP. We always get a family orniment with all our names and the year on it. We’ve gotten those with gingerbreadmen, penguins, eskimos, snowmen, orniments on tree. Those are my favorites and go on the tree every year. I save some of the breakable ones to put on the tree when they get a little older. I am always afraid they will knock them off the tree and break them. Each of the four boys (ages 14,12,11,and 5) each have a rubbermaid container. The oldest 3 is just about full and the youngest ones is about half full. In addition to the ones I get them, my family also each gets them one.
Now that my sisters & I are all grown and have families of our own we found it difficult to buy presents for each other & their family. It just got too exspensive. So many years ago we decided to just buy for the kids and then buy a ornament for each other. So every year my sisters & I swap ornaments. When I go to put our tree up each year I look at each one and can remember exactly which sister gave me which one. It makes it special plus helps fill the tree up. We have some that are personalized with our names on it and our families names, I have one that says “New Home”, “Babies First Christmas”, A pet one with the dogs name on it, etc. Although it is something small & usually inexspensive it makes it special b/c it is something that they picked out specifically that reminded them of me and my family. And if we ever go anywhere on vacation I always try to get a ornament for my tree to remind us of where we have been.
omg my mom did that with me when i was little. when i have children one day i’m going to pass on this tradition :)
For New Moms with Kids Entering Into School… I seen this on the news and thought it was very cool and I am sure his daughter really appreciated it….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2164975/Bryan-Martins-tear-jerking-graduation-gift-daughter-Brenna-book-13-years-messages.html
Something that is fun to do with small kids is to make a cookie village. My 3 year old had so much fun putting together the different buildings and decorating them with icing and candies. We then donated the cookie village to a needy organization, and the kids there just loved it.
I also have bought ornaments for my children every year. I like the idea of doing an advent calendar and my kids are just starting to get old enough.
I do this too, along with buying an ornament from any place we had visited that year to help remember a special trip or vacation.
We do the same! Each family gets a special ornament tailored to them and our family gets one of a family memory from the year. (like the buffalo ornament was from when we went to the drive thru safari park and the buffalo stuck its head in the car and licked dad’s ear!) The kids love laughing over the memories each year! We also buy one wherever we go. It drives my husband crazy! Lol.
We go to WDW every Dec and we have taken up the tradition of purchasing an ornament in the Magic Kingdom and having it personalized with “WDW 20__” (whatever the year is). Since our son was born in 2007, his first ornament is a Mickey “Baby’s First Christmas” with his picture in it. After that, we switched to a glass Mickey head. The one year we went in the summer instead of Christmas, we purchased a birthday Mickey head ornament since his birthday is in July. When he eventually moves out of our house, we will surprise him with the box of ornaments so he can remember all the good times we had and know just how much we cherished our trips with him. I hope it’s something he does for his own children one day.
This is a wonderful idea! Any other family traditions your guys could pass along to a new mom?
One other new tradition I have is that we do an advent calendar each year with activities in it. This year we’ll have Pack to visit Mickey as a way to reveal our trip to Disney. But last year my kids made ornaments, visited a living nativity in the area, read the Night Before Christmas, watched certain Christmas movies, made cookies for Santa, etc. It was so much fun and I loved that instead of just eating a piece of chocolate we did something together as a family each day. I did it with my 1 year old and 11 year old last year and some of the things didn’t work for the youngest, but you can tailor it to your children’s age level too!
My favorite tradition growing up was making and frosting Christmas cut out cookies. I have a picture of my son at 2 years old kneeling on the counter frosting cookies w/ a cheese spread spreader since it was smaller for his hands.
We do the same thing! I already have our ornaments for this year as well since we are headed to Disney a few weeks before Christmas. I got a set of 4 glass Mickey “ball” ornaments on clearance at the Disney Store. I’m going to put each family members name & the year on it.
And for what it’s worth, I have boxes of ornaments my parents have gifted to me as I got an ornament each year. It is so much fun to pull them out and remember all the things I loved and reasons my mom gave me the ornaments. It so much fun to have them and just as much fun to give them! I hope my kids appreciate it as much as I do!
I have been doing something similar. Each year I buy an ornament that reflects her personality, her likes, or an achievement during the year. I take a picture, then tuck them away. The picture goes in a scrapbook with a description of why Mommy chose just this one. When my daughter gets married, or when the time is right, it will be a surprise gift that took a lifetime of memories to put together.
can you give us an example of what are buying this year?
I bought Mickey heads for our family this year, but in the past I’ve gotten things that resemble sports they play, certain characters, favorite sports players and vacations/places we’ve been. My son has a soccer ball, quite a few Star Wars ornaments as he was obsessed for a while, Troy Polamalu (his favorite football player), and ornaments from Hershey Park and a few other places we’ve been. Last year I didn’t buy ornaments I had my boys make them. We used their hand prints to make reindeer and they’re adorable! They’re just thick scrapbook paper though so a bit fragile, but my kids have a big age gap and it’s so fun to see the difference in the size of their hands! You can get as creative as you want, just focus on what your kid does and likes.
We do the same thing!