when i was a young tyke, my grandma started what has become one of my most favorite aspects of christmas. each year since 1985, she gives each of us a wooden ornament. most of them are hand carved and hand painted and were discovered in some little store on one of my grandparent's many world adventures. i love the smell that wafts from the tin when the lid is peeled back. each ornament gets carefully unwrapped and turned over in my hands so that i can appreciate the corners of intricacies. when we were younger, my sisters and i would all put our ornaments on the tree in the living room, but since "growing up" i've yet to do so. i've always found an alternative spot such as door frames. this year, they hung from the fire place where, instead of being tucked into branches, they were on display for the whole world (all ten of them that came into our living room) to see.
the picture below contains my favorites. the bell on the far right is the very first ornament grandma gave me in 1985. the music note next to it is the 2008 ornament. the manger carving in the middle is actually from jerusalem! the angel on the far right is the one non-wood ornament amongst them. i love it's simplicity. 
traditions are not something my family seems to do very well. other than grandpa always using pink frosting on cake and mom making lep cookies every year, we don't really seem to repeat anything for more than a couple of years. but grandma has been very sucessful in this tradition, and i love it so much that i one day plan to do the same for all fifty of my grandchildren. grandma - thanks for making us a part of tradition. and go big red!
everyone else - yes, my grandma is tech savvy enough to read my blog. she even emails me sometimes!
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1 comment:
I think Alaska or Canada is calling you home snow bird...
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