Do you buy/make an ornament for each child yearly?

[swellmomma]

I don't tend to keep most of the ornaments the kids made themselves over the years. I have not had to get a bigger tree or anything but my tree is packed with ornaments, as in last year some branches had 3-4 ornaments each.  The way I see it, it reflects our life in a way like that.  We pack as much togetherness in amongst the musts (with the tree it's the lights and topper; in life it is work).  Soon enough my tree will also begin to resemble my home, growing emptier and emptier as each kid moves out.  For the lengths of their childhoods at home I am happy when I see that tree so packed with ornaments the branches are sagging, and thinking about our lives together as a family jammed into this little house.  We even have a lobster ornament from Nova scotia that my folks gave my ex the first xmas we were together, after we split I kept that ornament and for 10 years it was the only tangible thing my kids had of their dad.  Something to hang on the tree and feel like he was part of their xmas.  In the last couple years he has taken them for 4-5 days after xmas, but they still like hanging that lobster each year and talking about things they had done with him.  I am not sure who will take that one when they move out, perhaps they will have to return it to him at that point.

My sister on the other hand wants her tree to look like it is from a magazine, so she has 2 trees, the one everyone sees decked out the way she wants, and one down in the basement with her son's ornaments and the ones from her childhood.  She does not get the happy feeling when she sees that tree as I do when I see mine, she only gets that happy feeling from her fancy one.

 

Growing up our tree was like mine is now, packed full.  My mom said it was so weird to realize she needed to buy ornaments one year after sister and I had moved out and taken all our own with us.  Brother moved out a couple years later and took his and suddenly her tree was nearly bare.  I am so glad I have a minimum of 12 years left before I have to worry about my tree being bare. 

[GreenKitty]

I don't tend to keep most of the ornaments the kids made themselves over the years. I have not had to get a bigger tree or anything but my tree is packed with ornaments, as in last year some branches had 3-4 ornaments each.  The way I see it, it reflects our life in a way like that.  We pack as much togetherness in amongst the musts (with the tree it's the lights and topper; in life it is work).  Soon enough my tree will also begin to resemble my home, growing emptier and emptier as each kid moves out.  For the lengths of their childhoods at home I am happy when I see that tree so packed with ornaments the branches are sagging, and thinking about our lives together as a family jammed into this little house.  We even have a lobster ornament from Nova scotia that my folks gave my ex the first xmas we were together, after we split I kept that ornament and for 10 years it was the only tangible thing my kids had of their dad.  Something to hang on the tree and feel like he was part of their xmas.  In the last couple years he has taken them for 4-5 days after xmas, but they still like hanging that lobster each year and talking about things they had done with him.  I am not sure who will take that one when they move out, perhaps they will have to return it to him at that point.

 

My sister on the other hand wants her tree to look like it is from a magazine, so she has 2 trees, the one everyone sees decked out the way she wants, and one down in the basement with her son's ornaments and the ones from her childhood.  She does not get the happy feeling when she sees that tree as I do when I see mine, she only gets that happy feeling from her fancy one.

 

Growing up our tree was like mine is now, packed full.  My mom said it was so weird to realize she needed to buy ornaments one year after sister and I had moved out and taken all our own with us.  Brother moved out a couple years later and took his and suddenly her tree was nearly bare.  I am so glad I have a minimum of 12 years left before I have to worry about my tree being bare. 

 

We do not buy ornaments every year. But after reading this post and feeling sad, I'll prob start buying them. 

[Meadowlark]

I don't understand the idea that grown children would want to take the ornaments with them..when I got married, I wanted to start with a bare tree, and fill it with memories of my own family. I started buying ornaments for the kids each year, but now that there are 5, I'm not sure if I can keep up the tradition. That's a lot of ornaments! But I do love to go home and see my childhood ornaments on my parents tree. They may want to give them to me, but I dont want them! KWIM?

[Guest]

My grandmother made beautiful ornaments for my parents when they were young marrieds. After the divorce, Mom took us kids out shopping for storeboughts but stored Gran's ornaments for us for when we grew up. That was one of the nicest and most difficult presents she ever gave me, but I definitely wasn't ready for them at 18 or even 21 and it would have broken my heart to lose them to homelessness and bad relationships. I'm sure my kids feel the same way. We've already had one Christmas at ds1's apartment and I brought the ornaments home with me, but when dil and the grandbabies show up on the scene I might maybe possibly consider asking her if I can store them at their house if they own it and I'm still renting.

 

Maybe.

 

We'll see how I feel when I get there.

 

Hey, you guys are probably going to hate me for this, but I don't have a single Star Wars ornament and this is the year the 5 year old became as big of a fan as his siblings. We have a modest budget and I was wondering if any of you had a suggestion for where I could find something in the $5-$20 price range. It's been so long since we had a boughten ornament that I don't feel like gluing a paperclip to the top of an action figure from the thrift store.

[tex-bex]

I don't understand the idea that grown children would want to take the ornaments with them..when I got married, I wanted to start with a bare tree, and fill it with memories of my own family. I started buying ornaments for the kids each year, but now that there are 5, I'm not sure if I can keep up the tradition. That's a lot of ornaments! But I do love to go home and see my childhood ornaments on my parents tree. They may want to give them to me, but I dont want them! KWIM?

I love the ornaments my parents packed and sent with me. My life didn't begin the day I met my husband. We enjoy telling each other and our children about what we were like when we received each childhood ornament. :)

[swellmomma]

I love the ornaments my parents packed and sent with me. My life didn't begin the day I met my husband. We enjoy telling each other and our children about what we were like when we received each childhood ornament. :)

 

Yup.  I love my childhood ornaments.  My life before I became an adult shaped who I am, why not have those happy memories out on display kwim.  Sometimes it is hard to even remember those years until you pull that ornament out of the box and think, hey I got this when I was 6, oh my gosh, remember when xyz happened that year etc.  My kids get these little glimmers of who I was back then.  Of course not everyone is a sentimental sap like I am lol

[dancingmama]

I just wanted to follow up on this.  Yesterday we decorated our tree and the kids were very excited to split them up and we spent a couple of hours decorating a very small tree but it was peppered with "Oh, remember when...!" and "oh, that's right!  I remember when I...".  It was so awesome.  The oldest telling my youngest stories or talking about why they got which ornament when.  I'm really glad we're doing it and I can't wait to add this year's ornaments on the tree on Christmas day.  

[Momofeat]

We have always given each child an ornament each Christmas that reflects their interests. I figure that will give them each 18 or so ornaments to take into their adult life to start their own Christmas traditions, but not so many that they feel overwhelmed or burdened by the tradition. Hopefully 4-5 Star Wars ornaments within the 18 won't be too horrible to any future dil's.

 

I'm intrigued by the idea of being overwhelmed by ornaments or needing multiple trees. Maybe I'm not understanding how other people are doing this tradition. Don't you stop giving ornaments at some point? Don't your kids move out and take their ornaments with them eventually?

 

This is exactly what we do, too. One dd has several ballet ornaments, and my ds will receive his second baseball ornament this year. Sometimes we choose an ornament that will remind them of a special event that took place in their lives. Last year, both dds got ornaments to commemorate their baptisms. We plan to send them with the kids when they leave home, and we're not too concerned about them being "lopsided." Our dc look forward to their new ornaments every year, and they exclaim over their old ornaments like they're absolute treasures. This is a tradition I believe we'll do all the way through.

[MooCow]

Not really. Just the baby's first Christmas ones.

[LuvToRead]

We buy ornaments every year on vacation, if I can find some.  I write the year, their name, and location on the back.  It's fun to remember family vacations while decorating the tree.  My plan is to give them to the girls when they move out.  

[Mommyof4ks]

Most years we let the kids pick an ornament that they love. We have some funny ones like a deer holding a shot gun, and some serious ones like a Childhood Cancer Fund butterfly, but the kids enjoy getting to pick each year. This year we took them to make blown glass ornaments, and it was a neat experience. I have no idea what we will do next year.

[Hakg]

We've done this for years and it's always fun to look back on previous years' ornaments and remember why we picked out a particular one. In past years, I've made them but this year I just let the kids pick out one each from the store. Ds picked out a wooden bird because he loves birding and dd picked out a cupcake because lately she has been obsessed with cupcake making and the show "Cupcake Wars" (on Amazon Prime.)

 

Tell me about your ornaments this year and/or ornament traditions!

 

DS and I buy a Swarovski Crystal Christmas ornament for our tree each year (we have regular ornaments also).  The Swarovski's are tiny, but expensive.  We went to buy our annual ornament today, and DH came along for the first time, he almost passed out at the cost!

 

I want the ornaments to last a long time and to be able to be passed down within our family, as my grandmother did with her Christmas tree ornaments.

 

[Wheres Toto]

My oldest picked out a new ornament every year until she was 12 or so.  They are ALL dance/ballet themed so we have a ton of ballerinas, ballet shoes, tap shoes, etc. in various colors.  Lots of pink.  There's also lots of Sesame Street characters from when she was younger, some Hershey ornaments from our trip to the park, some Disney from vacations.  Plus she went to daycare from a young age so there are the hand-made in school ornaments too.   I don't know why I never did it with my younger two.  I may have to take them this year to pick out ornaments so that we get a little more variety. 

Dh has a bunch of antique ornaments from when he was a kid.  They are all pretty fragile so we don't use them yet.  He also has a bunch of fishing theme ones that I bought him as gifts - including a few fishing Santas because when his beard was longer he looked just like Santa Claus. :lol: