Entry #365, December 23, 2010
In 1981, my mom and dad gave my sister and I two gold ornaments. Mine had a girl praying and my sister’s was a gold teddy bear. Both had our names engraved along with the year “1981”.
This year I was telling my family story to my friend and Guest Blogger, Gosia Maj, who was gracious enough to share her Polish Christmas tradition with us last week. She gave me the idea of taking a picture of my ornament and sharing it as one of my blog posts. What a wonderful idea it was and I thank you Gosia for suggesting it!
My very first ornament at 10 years old.
At the time, the thought of an ornament seemed very silly. Especially as a ten year old, my sister and I thought that ornaments didn’t have any purpose except to get stuck on the tree! After 29 years the tradition has become a family one that my children look forward to every Christmas Eve.
Since 1981 my family has exchanged yearly ornaments
The tradition goes like this:
Everyone picks one person to buy an ornament for. The ornament must represent a significant event in that persons life for that year. Some of my fondest ornaments are a graduation tassel when I graduated from high school, a wedding pillow when my husband and I married, and a gorgeous hand painted baby when I had my daughter.
Every Christmas Eve we travel to my mom’s house, have a big dinner, listen to a Christmas program (sung, danced by my three kids!) and then we have the Christmas tree ornament ceremony. Each person gives their ornament, and tells why it has significance to that person.
I will keep this tradition for my children to pass on…
Later in the evening we go sprinkle reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter) around the grass so Santa knows where to find our home! Their lies my family Christmas Eve tradition.
I thank my mom and dad for starting this beautiful tradition that I hope will continue for generations to come.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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A beautiful tradition! Thank you fir sharing it.
Thank you Rebecca, I appreciate it. I always love family traditions, so I figured I should share mine!! Have a great holiday season.
That’s a wonderful traditon, Ronique. Thank you for sharing it with us. We married in 1976, and that first Christmas, my wife got a dated bulb for the tree. Every year since then we’ve gotten one. We no longer put up a large tree, but we still do a small one most of the time, and when we do the dated bulbs almost cover it! Probably by the 50th, they will! This year we got bulb number 35.
Thanks Joseph! Ahhh, what a great story! I’m thinking pretty soon we will need more trees, or a bigger house… whichever comes first! HA! Happy Holidays Joseph, and tell Joe the same!
I had to laugh reading your take on this wonderful family tradition when you were 10 years old. And although I never thought much about the many customs I’ve been exposed to at 10 years of age, I certainly remember thinking them a nuisance then, but am adoring and thinking them absolutely essential to my identity today. Go figure. I love that you preserved this beautiful custom for three decades. Such a soulful thing to do!
Thank you Gosia! It’s funny because my kids seem to enjoy the ornament tradition, so as they grow it will be interesting to see if they still keep it up! Thank you Gosia for inspiring such a wonderful post! 🙂