Christmas Through My Eyes -- Dec. 11th

December 11th -- Our sentimental Christmas ornaments

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we have an overabundance of ornaments for our Christmas tree. To be exact we have 3 storage containers and some smaller boxes full of ornaments starting from when my parents first got married. Each year we definitely acquire at least 5 new ornaments, so the collection just keeps on growing! To me, this is what makes decorating the tree so special.

Each ornament has a story or a memory attached to it, and I definitely have my favorites. Two years ago my sister decided to take on the project of making paw print ornaments out of clay for each of our dogs -- needless to say that was an interesting experience that took way longer than we anticipated -- but she managed to get them done and now they hang on our tree next to each other every year. We have so many Disney ornaments I don't even think I can count them. The characters from Mickey's "A Christmas Carol," Disney princesses, the Tasmanian Devil, and Perry the Platypus are featured among many more. We have an entire collection of Thomas Kinkade Christmas ornaments as well that depict Santa doing his many important tasks. One of my favorite newer ornaments is one my best friend Cameron gave to me two years ago for my birthday. It will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well that it's a Star Wars ornament -- my first to be exact, which I don't know how I had never gotten one before but it makes it all the more special. This ornament is C3PO and R2D2 just hanging out together and it makes me happy every time I look at it -- partially because I love Star Wars and partially because my best friend who lives far away gave it to me and it's like part of her is here. 

These are just to name a few of the many, many special ornaments we have on our tree -- also including milestones like baby's first Christmas, my parents' 25th wedding anniversary, my sister and brother-in-law's first ornament as a married couple (which is this year!), etc. There's just something so incredibly special about looking at a tree full of memories. Whether it's a happy occasion or something I loved growing up, looking at our Christmas tree always fills me with so much joy.