One of my favorite things about the holiday season each year is decorating our family Christmas tree. While our two girls and even Zuzu have their own small trees with themed ornaments (stars for Stella, pearls for Margot, and foxes for Zuzu), the family tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments from our childhood, vacations, and special moments over the years.
Every year, the act of taking ornaments out of their storage boxes feels like unwrapping years of memories. They’re such personal objects, reflecting inside jokes and milestones. Here are some of my favorite ornaments on our family tree, and the little stories behind them.
We love buying ornaments on vacation as a souvenir from our trips. The one pictured at the bottom is Monet’s home in Giverny, one of my favorite parts of our trip to Paris this year. It pairs beautifully with our Rainbow Row ornament from our Charleston trip in 2018. Giverny was such a magical place. I already have several Eiffel Tower ornaments I’ve collected over the years, so I was excited to find something a little different as a memory from that trip.
My brother and sister in law gave us this incredibly special and sentimental ornament last year. My sister in law Lynn ordered it from Etsy. Inside of the bulb is my grandma’s handwriting. I cried when I opened it. This was its first Christmas season on our tree and is such a treasured object, as much or more than ornaments we’ve had for years.
I think that most people from Michigan or with ties to Michigan have similar ornaments on their trees. These ornaments are the classic personalized ornaments from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth. Zack has had his ornament for many years. When we were dating, his family gifted me with my own Stefy ornament. In 2009 when we got married and adopted Zuzu, his mom and stepdad got one for her. Stella’s ornament arrived in the mail the Christmas before she was born. Margot’s completes the set. We try to make it to Frankenmuth and Bronner’s each year, and these ornaments are an extension of that special tradition.
Speaking of Bronner’s, this is the ornament that kicked off a collection. The year we adopted Zuzu, we went to Bronner’s in search of an ornament that looked like her. She’s an unusual mix, and we’ve never really seen another dog like her. While Bronner’s has sections of ornaments devoted to just about any dog breed imaginable, we weren’t finding anything that looked like our Zuzu. Then Zack spotted this fox ornament, and it was perfect. In the 10 years since, fox ornaments have become very popular, and we’ve collected north of 50 fox ornaments. Zuzu now has her very own fox tree that gets added to each year. But this was the first.
This ornament makes me giggle and reminds me of late 2016, when I was very, very pregnant with Margot. Her due date was December 27th, and for the entire month of December, I was on high alert. Would she come early? Would we be in the hospital on Christmas? Would we go insane with cabin fever? We bought this ornament at Bronner’s that year, anticipating that she might very well be celebrating her first Christmas as a newborn. But Christmas came and went, and she stayed put. Our almost-Christmas baby turned out to be a Happy New Year baby, born New Year’s Day. Her first Christmas wouldn’t be until almost her first birthday. While we could have put a photo of her actual face in this ornament, using the ultrasound felt more fitting. She’s always keeping us guessing.
These two ornaments are part of a special wedding box set that we received from my mother in law at my bridal shower. It’s a beautiful collection of 12 ornaments that come in a commemorative box. I actually bought a similar set for our friends Jen and Tom, who got married last December, because they are among my favorite ornaments to bring out each year.
This ornament makes me smile. I’ve gained a new appreciation for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in the last couple of years, thanks to how much our girls love watching the movie and listening to the music from early October through Christmas. My friends Ellen and Linda picked this ornament out for me when they were at a conference at Disneyland this past October. They affectionately have dubbed me The Mayor of The Barre Code East Lansing this past year, making this ornament even funnier and more special. Some ornaments make me emotional, but this one is purely joyful (and delightfully spooky).
Do you have favorite ornaments? What are some of your favorites?