My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating the Christmas tree.
Christmas Trees are just magical.
They twinkle and glow, they tell a story, they shelter our gifts, give home to cheeky elves and they lend a sense of magic to our homes.
Part of what makes these trees so magical is what we choose to decorate them with.
I don’t know how y’all do ornaments in your family, but in my family the Family Tree is just that – it’s not a Macy’s display – it’s Family Tree.
It’s a 6 1/2 foot tall bedecked, glowing, family history.
In my family, we are given an ornament every year of our life. While I was growing up, my parents and my maternal Granny each gave me an ornament every single year. When Nathan and I got married – they included him in the tradition giving him one, and giving us a couples ornament, too. Once the kids were born it was an ornament for me, an ornament for Nathan, a couples ornament and an ornament per kid; plus we gave each kid an ornament. (If you’re doing the math – 2 ornaments per year up to age 22 = 44 ornaments. 4 ornaments per year after that.. oh wait then we had kids .. my brain hurts)
One of the reasons that I love this tradition so much is that every year when we decorate our tree it’s a walk down memory lane. It’s family history lesson. More often than not tears come into my eyes as I run my fingers over 30+ year old papier mache and yellowing lace edged angels, as my kids shout out the year and try to guess who each ornament came from and how old I was when I got it.
Memories swarm me. Sometimes overwhelming, always welcome and always a blessing.
Every ornament that I choose for my children tells a story of who we are that year, what they’ve accomplished, experienced or where we’ve been. Every ornament is a tale waiting to be told, a memory ready to be unwrapped.
This year we’ve done a lot of stargazing.
While we camped on the beach, while we sat crying over losses and while we hoped for change. The stars have played a huge part of our lives this year.
My amazing friend, Lisa, created this Molded Star Ornament and gifted one to my family. When I opened it, my breath caught. The handcrafted beauty, the weight of the metal, the soft velvet ribbon.
When we took this ornament out of its bag and hung it on our tree, Nathan and I both ran our fingers lightly over it – we exhaled and we remembered.
I cannot thank Lisa enough for this gift. Lisa’s timing is unbelievable, her gifts always seem to arrive on a day when we most need a blessing, a reminder.
For our family this year, we wished upon many stars and Lisa’s star ornament will grace our branches for years to come.
I urge you to order one of her beautiful custom ornaments for yourself, a friend or a family member. The ornament you choose this year, will help share your family history for years to come.
So here’s what I want to do. I want to give one of you a memory.
I’m going to buy one y’all one of Lisa’s Ornaments:
Please click on each link and go look at the beauty that is her handcrafted ornaments and jewelry, I promise there’s someone on your gift list who would love a Lisa Leonard Ornament
This post isn’t sponsored. Lisa gifted me with one of her gorgeous, custom Christmas ornaments and I have written about it because I adore her and her ornaments.
*** heart and stocking ornament images shared from Lisa’s blog with permission*** all other images are my own
We have young children so we really haven’t established too many unique traditions yet. I bought the Elf on the Shelf and plan to do that for the first time this year. We have stockings every year and we also try to get a picture of the kids in their pjs by the tree on Christmas morning. If I wasn’t so “camera shy,” it would be a family photo in flannel pjs!
I’d also love to go to a Christmas tree farm every year and pick out our tree together. I think that would be a fun tradition to continue year after year!
I am a fan of Lisa’s on FB and have been admiring her creations for a long time. She is quite talented! Thanks for the giveaway!
I best love when my kids finish decorating the tree. They have taken it over in the last few years and it is one of the times they do not fuss at each other
I pretend to nap and listen to them chat and discuss the ornaments (all of mine have stories) and then they “wake” me to show their handiwork. Love…
My favorite tradition was when we were kids we were allowed to wake up as early as we wanted on Christmas and open our stockings together before waking our parents or opening presents. It was a fun time for just me and my sister, a quiet time to be excited about the presents under the tree, and see all the little things stuffed inside our too-small handmade stockings. I hope that when my kids get a little bigger, they can share this tradition too.
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Growing up, we didn’t have many traditions besides trying to cram in no less than 8 stops in the two days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Now that I am the parent, I try to make the holidays less hectic and we spread out all the family visits over a week or more so e can enjoy our visits and time. We spend as much time at home as we can, making cookies and watching movies.
Christmas is such a beautiful and special time of year. Traditions add to the love of family and friends. We have my husband’s family over every Christmas Eve for dinner. We prepare a big pot of soup or dhili, cornbread, biscuits, sweets galore and fruit and vegetable trays with dips. This is a tradition my kids look forward to each year. Another tradition we have is we decorate the tree and every room in the house the weekend after Thanksgiving while watching Christmas movies. My boys and I also bake Christmas cookies on Friday night after Thanksgiving to have to munch on while we decorate. Thank you for the opportunity of sharing just a few of my traditions. Thank you for all you do! Many Blessings… Tammy in Alabama
Before my grandparents died we would go to my dad’s parent’s house and eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve! Yes, spaghetti! Go to church and then go to my other grandma’s house for snacks with all of my family! I miss those days. It is the tradition I miss MOST at this point in my life! Now that I am married, my husband and I get up really early Christmas morning to open our gifts to each other. It is our special time, just the two of us. I really love it…nice and quiet, just us two sharing what we think the other would love, just like two little kids!
I love our crazy HUGE family christmas gift exchange. 26 peeps under one roof opening gifts – oohing and aahhhing and filling up garbage bags of wrapping. I love the over the topness of it all.
Blessings!
What a beautiful gift to give to your readers. So pretty (I love the heart ornament!!). In our home we exchange our gifts to each other on Christmas eve night, while drinking eggnog and feasting on appetizers (for dinner). Then we go to the candlelight service (they have one at 8pm for families) at church, come home, put out the cookies and my husband reads the family “Twas the Night before Christmas.” And off they go to bed. Most years my hubby and I then exchange our gifts to each other while sipping some Glogg or wine. It’s so much fun, and magical, and I can’t wait for the night to be here!
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We buy a Disney ornament for the Christmas tree every year. Since my children are little, I try to incorporate a new tradition to carry on each year. I love reading the responses because of the great ideas that I can pass on to my family. Happy Holidays!
I love her ornaments and well, all of her stuff. It is all so very beautiful.
One of the traditions at our house started by a small toddler on one of her second Christmas who just wouldn’t go to sleep after Christmas eve service at church, so we drove around the coast in San Diego and looked at all of the Christmas lights and then when we got home we dressed her in her new jammies and put her to bed. The following year, we decided to check out our new neighborhood in Jacksonville Florida and did the same. The year after that we had a nearly year old baby and a new four year old who insisted we see the lights and we did and when we got home she opened her new jammies and they both went to bed.
Now those girls are nearly 17 and 13 and we go out every Christmas eve after church to look at the Christmas lights while sipping on hot chocolate or a tasty coffee beverage. We listen to Christmas Carols on the radio and talk about the year that just passed as well as the year laid out fresh and new before us. Sometimes if a fresh dusting of snow is falling to the ground we may stop and get out and just enjoy the beauty and silence and wonder that you only get on Christmas eve in Northern Ohio. It’s the only time that we truly appreciate the snow and all of it’s magic. Then we pile back in the van and drive back home to let the girls open their Christmas jammies so they can put them on and go to bed to wake up to the magic of Christmas morning.
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The ornaments are beautiful. One of my favorite traditions is simply watching Rudolf with the kids while sipping hot chocolate and cookies. Simple but fun.
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One of our favorite holiday traditions is the Christmas party that we host for our family,neighbors and friends. We usually have a housefull of 75-100 people! It can get a little crazy, but it’s so fun and we all have a great time.
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Those ornaments are beautiful! That is the tradition at my house. Since the first year we were dating my husband has given me an ornament each year, and anytime we go anywhere on a trip, we get a ornament. My son made some of them when he was little, so, each and every ornament is special to me. We really enjoy putting up the tree and reminiscing about all the ornaments.
Every year my daughter is allowed to open one gift on Christmas eve, and every year it is the same gift. She receives a book and Christmas pjs. She is 20 this year and we still continue this tradition.
Over the years we have collected ornaments from places that we have visited and vacationed at. Putting them on the tree brings back all those memories of wonderful fun times we have had as a family..that usually leads to remember when stories and eventually a house full of laughter.! So Precious!
I just found your site through pintrest and wanted to tell you how much I love it – and how wonderful I think it is that you’re offering something so beautiful and special to your followers. I feel as though a lot of the true meaning of Christmas has been lost to overspending and the glitz and glamour of it all. It’s nice to see someone who supports the real meaning of Christmas.
7 years ago, 6 weeks before my first son was born, my mom passed away after a very long battle with cancer. Although we knew she was very ill, we had still intended to give her the Christmas that she so desperately wanted with her family. Christmas was always her favourite time of the year. We had gotten the tree, but hadn’t had a chance to put it up before her passing. So, with heavy hearts, the day after her passing, we gathered in the living room of my childhood home and we lovingly pulled ornaments from the boxes and laughed and cried all the while listening to Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole and of course a little bit of Burl Ives and Elvis croon Christmas carols.
In the 7 years since her passing, every year on the weekend closest to her passing we have gathered together to decorate a tree in my home now where we still laugh and cry and listen to the music that she always loved to hear during the holidays. Christmas was always very important to her and we’ve tried to make sure that we carry that on in her memory.
I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas. May your hearts be full of love, laughter and all the magic that Christmas has to offer.
When my second son was born, my husband and I decided it was time to claim Christmas for ourselves. My whole life, we were at my dad (or grandparents) house at NOON on Christmas Day. Just when we were starting to enjoy all of our gifts, we would have to get dressed up and leave. We continued that tradition until just a few years ago when I finally took a stand and said NO.
I wanted to be able to have a Christmas Day at home, just us. Boys up early to open presents, my mom’s breakfast casserole heating in the oven, random naps and holiday movies all day. No where to go.
So that’s what we do. It’s my very favorite tradition because it’s just US, all day.
My favorite tradition is going to the Christmas Eve service. We do go to church each week, but the Christmas Eve services are just magical to me. Before I got married, I used to go to services at 3 different churches on Christmas Eve. Now that I am married and have a toddler, we are lucky to make it through one of these services!
I love Christmas! My husband and I have traditions that we have started that are a combination of traditions from both sides of our family. We have to have a tree before my Birthday. We use to have Jack our dog helps us pick it out. We lost our beloved dog 2 years ago on Christmas day. We have a new dog, Stewie and this year he will help us pick out our tree. We both are excited to have “our dog” help us find that perfect tree. You see, My husband and I do not have kids, so our animals share our traditions. Stewie will give us slippers for Christmas. What would Christmas be without the delicious food that is associated with the Holidays. We have homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Merry Christmas to you!!!
So many favorite family traditions but if I had to pick one it would be our Christmas Eve Open House. My parents hosted this gathering for almost 25 years and then a few years ago my husband and kids and I began hosting. The food is always the same, a reading of the night before christmas, and an ornament for all the guests with our name and the year to always remind them of the fun we had.
Every Christmas Eve my husband and I stay up late, wrapping presents. Once we are done, we like to tip-toe outside of our kids’ bedrooms and ring these old sleigh bells we’ve had forever…we started this when my 13 year-old was a baby. We like to think they hear the bells as they sleep and dream of Santa and Rudolf.
I love caroling — even though I’m Jewish! Just did it on Thursday and it was awesome. Music makes me happy — what can I say?
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We always go look at Christmas lights after Christmas eve service at church. It so fun for us as a family.
When I was a kid my favorite thing to do was cut down our own Christmas tree. Those were good times.
Every year each kid picks out a new ornament. Ever year the kids love to get out their ornaments to put on the tree. The younger ones always get mad at the older ones because they have more. I love the tradition in this- pulling them out and talking about them.
. Happy holidays!!!
My favorite tradition is everyone getting together at Grandmas house for Christmas eve dinner
My favorite memory will be the ones we create this year, as we moved away from all our family this year. My husband and I are creating new memories for our daughter who is only 18 months. Which will include Skyping with our loved ones in Oregon. I just love the look on my daughters face when she sees her gram, grandad, and all her aunts and uncles