Preserving cherished memories is important to our family! Each year brings new adventures and milestones that are accomplished and to help preserve our stories, we decided to start a family keepsake ornament tradition!
I’m excited to share how we started to collect ornaments, the types of ornaments we have, how we display them, and why this tradition is so important to us!
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How our family ornament tradition started
The year was 1994, and Rich and I were married in November.
Several of our friends and family members gave us ornaments as wedding gifts to commemorate the occasion!
I received enough ornaments to decorate a small tree that I displayed on our piano.
My first themed tree! Sorry about the quality of the photo! I took a picture of my scrapbook! But you get the idea!
Anyway, in 1995 my Mom decided she was going to start a new tradition! She and my Dad gifted us an ornament each year representing our family!
Each ornament is personalized with our names and the year.
It was so fun to watch our family grow!
We display our family ornaments on a half tree that hangs on the wall!
We’re about to run out of room on this sweet tree, next year I might have to switch to a traditional tree!
a new tradition stems from the first
We loved the family keepsake tradition my mom started so much that we decided to gift our children a new ornament every year as well!
Last year I wrote a post about this special tradition and how it revolves around Thanksgiving weekend! Click here to read all about it!
Why start a family Keepsake ornament tradition?
Here are our top 4 reasons you should start a keepsake ornament tradition!
1)keep a family Record
First, it’s a great way to keep records of family members’ activities and favorite things!
When the boys were little, their ornaments reflected things they were interested in, like Blues clues, Veggie Tales, or Scoobie Doo!
As they got older, we focused on big events like playing an instrument, getting braces, graduating, their first job, etc.
2)Relive memories year after year
We have so much fun pulling each ornament out and reminiscing about its significance.
It makes us take time to stop and reflect on memories that we might otherwise forget.
3)start a collection
My family members love to collect things, and ornaments are no exception!
Buying ornaments to cover a whole tree can be expensive but collecting them over time is doable!
For example, Rich graduated from the University of Louisville! He’s a huge sports fan, and each year, I buy him a collectible U of L ornament from the Danbury Mint.
Now we have enough ornaments to decorate a themed tree!
4)Grown children have ornaments for their first tree
If you give your child an ornament every year, they’ll have a nice collection when they’re older.
When they move out of your house, they’ll have enough ornaments to decorate their tree.
Why start this tradition now?
You should start now because no matter what season of life you are in, it is worth making a record of the important events you experience each year!
Don’t wait for a big event like graduating, getting married, or having kids to start this tradition!
Start now and symbolize your favorite hobby or a sports team you follow!
Here are more ideas about ornaments you can start collecting now!
What type of ornaments should you collect?
There are Christmas ornaments for everything imaginable these days!
Here are some suggestions for types of ornaments you could collect:
- Hobbies- if you love to cook, collect food ornaments.
- Travel- Buy an ornament for every place you travel.
- Important events- Buy an ornament to commemorate graduations, weddings, births, etc.
- Handmade – collect ornaments that you or someone you know has made.
- Sports -show your team spirit and collect ornaments in your team’s colors.
If you can’t find ornaments you like in a local store, order them online.
We have ordered from The Christmas Place, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, and Amazon.
How should you store keepsake ornaments?
When we first started collecting ornaments, all of them would fit into one large ornament box.
As the kids got older, I gave each of them a storage box for their ornaments.
When they move out, they can take their box with them.
You can purchase ornament boxes but we use Home Depot moving boxes.
How to keep track of keepsake ornaments?
This is one of those situations where you should do as I say but not as I do!
Every year we take a picture of each of us with our new ornament.
I used to scrapbook and would put the pictures in our yearly photo album.
I kept telling myself I should get duplicate pictures and put them in an album of my own.
But I kept procrastinating and never got around to it!
Now, the task seems a bit overwhelming, and I never seem to be able to find the time to do it.
So, if this post has inspired you to start this fun tradition, I encourage you to make a notebook and at least write everyone’s name and a little bit about their ornament. Bonus points if you add a picture of them holding it!
I’m so happy my Mom started the tradition of giving us a family keepsake ornament each year!
She’s no longer with us here on earth, but I know she’s looking down from heaven with a big smile when we reveal our family ornament!
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Blessings, Donna and Rich
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I love your ornaments, I did something similar with the kids, my kids got homemade ornaments a lot. Now with the grand-kids, for them it was so much fun. I used miniature frames and put every-ones pictures in frames and let the oldest grand child help put the pictures on the tree. He was so please to be able to decorate. I also use photo copies of the pictures on all the presents so that the little ones that were walking age to help to give out the gifts. They had so much fun.
Hi Heather! Sounds like you are making wonderful memories for your kids and grandkids too! I love your ideas on using photos for ornaments and gifts too! Thanks for sharing! Here’s to a happy holiday season!