Less Art... More Soul: Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite parts about Christmas, is the tree. The tree has always been something big in our family, and I didn't even realize it until I was a little older. It all begins as we go searching for a specific type of tree- only a certain type of fir will be open enough to do what we need it to do. When trimming the tree for the stand, dad used to cut of a section of the trunk and bring it to me for my room because I just loved the smell. Then dad starts on the lights. My dad is the only one qualified to put the lights on. They are an older type of light that splits and goes around the branch so the light bulb can stand up straight, and it is definitely an art form. Mom unpacks the ornament boxes and begins to lay out the ornaments on the card table as the myriad of Christmas music plays on the stereo... and this is how it goes!

Now I'm sure some of this may be just like what everyone else does, but the ornaments themselves have so much meaning. That is the part I love so much. I'm not sure when exactly it became such a tradition, but we have started to really collect ornaments for one another. Many times, it is the first thing we exchange with each other and every year, we begin to doubt if there is room for even one more ornament on our very full trees.

This was purchased in Alaska by my parents. Trips out usually influence the ornament giving the following Christmas. :) This year our family all got ornaments from our trip to Hawaii this fall.

Years ago my mom started writing in a small spiral note pad. At the top of each page is a year and below is the list of all the ornaments that we received. Each little listing gave a short description and who the ornament was to and from. The book gave us a much better memory as I know anyone would have a hard time remembering where all these ornaments came from. Every year we would pull out the book and settle some disagreement between my brother and I about who's ornament was who's. :)
This year I took some pictures of a few of the many fun ornaments we place on the family tree. Now my brother and I have of course taken all our own personal ornaments to our own families and homes- so the collection is slightly spread out, but our own tress have begun to overflow with our own unique items from all over the world. And of course as we separated out our collection from our parents, my mom made us each our own mini notebooks with all our past information on all of our own ornaments. Our friends and other family all know that we collect these and love to send us many fun things, and last year I gave my best friend her own notebook and several new ornaments for her daughter's first Christmas.

This glass columbine has always been one of my favorites. It was purchased in Georgetown, which just happened to end up being where my husband and I got married. And with the columbine being Colorado's state flower it's pretty fitting- not to mention that it is just so delicate and beautiful.

Tradition is important and our tree is always a walk down memory lane for my family and I. What are some of the things that make your holiday special?

This is a flower that was hand painted by my grandmother.

These doves decorated the church for my parents wedding, now 40 years ago. These 12 little birds are one of the very last things to go on the tree and perch at the end of the branches.