Friday, December 13, 2013

FYI Friday: the Family Christmas tree = a lifetime of memories!

It's been said that a Christmas tree is a lifetime of memories. It's true really. Oh, how I love bringing down the ornaments and opening our ornament box each new Christmas season! Picking up each ornament, brings memories of something special to our family. I still have memories of doing this as a little girl and always trying to race to get my favorite ornaments before my sister or parents would put them on the tree!

Turns out, it's the same at our house now! Our boys were so incredibly excited to decorate our tree, which Luke pointed out today--was actually almost 2 weeks ago now! I wasn't expecting the pure excitement from them, though. Sure, I knew they would be happy to trim the tree, like usual, but they were enthusiastic the entire time (except Baby Way, who was still getting used to this massive tree in our den) and kept "Oooohhing" and "Ohhhh, I love this one!" over every ornament! A sweet memory I'll hold onto, for sure!

But don't worry, Way is great with our tree now! :)

And speaking of memories, I think I'll always love the event of decorating our Christmas tree because it originates from our Jackson family. Each ornament has a meaning and a story unique to our family! Wanna take a peek into our family Christmas tree?

It all begins way back on our wedding day. . .we have a couple of ornaments signifying the start of our family---the first ones we always grab!




We also have ornaments for our undergrad (additionally, my mom made the Baylor ornament. Another reason it's so special!) and graduate schools! Fun for us that we both attended both schools! No split allegiances in this family. At least not yet. . . 


My sister has been giving my mom and me a Tiffany ornament for the last 5 years or so. For some reason, I get all teary every year I open them. I know, shocker! But the thought is so sweet, and each ornament is just beautiful! I have a train, an angel, mittens, ice skates and a stocking!


And of course, once we started having children, more ornaments added to the list. I love all of them! From the handprint each one of our boys has as babies. . .(if you are local, let me know, and I'll give you this lady's name)


to the homemade ornaments. . .


to the school made ornaments!


We also support our city and our sports in the good and bad times!


I've been collecting these ornaments since early on in our marriage and my sweet mother-in-law adds to my collection each year! They are Le Bien ornaments, hand-blown and found at Pier 1. Each year they have several choices and come in a simple felt box, which we've used as decorations in the past!


And if you are just starting out as a newlywed, start a tradition by grabbing an ornament from each major vacation place you go to! We have, and we love it!! From Hawaii to Paris and other spots in between. . .to this year's BIG, HUGE trip to. . .Disney World! Our boys haven't stopped talking about our trip 2 months ago, and were elated to see the Mickey ears pulled out as our "new" ornament for the year!!!

 


And I do think there was a small scuffle over who got to put up this ornament this year. He is the reason for our celebration and this is one ornament dear to us!


And I could go on and on, but finally, once our tree has been decorated, Daddy gets the honor of topping our tree with a star, to remind us of what pointed the shepherds and wisemen to our Savior who was born on Christmas day! Turns out this year, we got a little "tree happy" and our star isn't exactly topping our tree, but hanging just slightly lower. . .don't worry, Chad and I made lots of references to Clark Griswold!


And the drum roll for the lighting of the Jackson Family Christmas tree. . .well, these faces say it all! Awe and wonder!!



Happy Friday!
 Hoping your Christmas season is filled with awe and wonder of all kinds this year!

2 comments :

Unknown said...

Absotutely awesome blog! What a pic at the end too!

I love you.

Aunt Mary! said...

This made me so happy to read. Love having such fun personal ornaments!

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