our kids get a new ornament every year.
we store their special ones in boxes with their name on them.
(you can read about it here from 2008)
then when the grow up & move out (gasp! i can't even imagine nor do i want to!) they take their box.
sometimes i take them to pick them out…sometimes i don't.
this year i did not.
sometimes they have special meanings…sometimes they don't.
can you tell i have a really great system going on here?!
these are the specials for 2009.
annie….because she's 5 and loves cookies. talby….she bought her own iPod this year.
sean…he likes snow globes
AND his name was spelled correctly! scott…i used a toy bike and just added a hook.
lauren….a capital L all covered in bling. 
and the orange star is just one i got at target a few years ago…look how easy that is?!
i could make that. and so could you.
you could put any words you wanted….peace, joy, love, jesus, noel…ANYthing you wanted.
are you feeling peaceful?
tami reed - happy holidays to you and your family
gina - ? Um, yes. that should be a C. Christmas. 🙂
gina - Today I feel peaceful and looking forward to the next 36 hours filled with family , friends, and fun!! Merry Vhristmas to you an yours!
mel - my mother in law did this for my husband when he was growing up. When we got married, he had a box of ornaments for our tree. It was so cute! We are doing this for our girls also, but since they are only 15 months & almost 3 years old, they don’t have that many in their little boxes!
Courtney Walsh - My birthday is December 18 so my mom always got me a Cmas ornament for my birthday…every year…and she still does. That’s 34 ornaments and counting, and I remember a lot of them (the fave is the strawberry shortcake one I got in kindergarten…it used to smell.) 🙂
Love your pics!
tara pollard pakosta - next year, I am putting my tree by the fireplace! LOVE IT! great picture! I do the same thing with my girls for ornaments, they each have their own box. and some years there is meaning, some years, we just buy whatever they pick out. it’s so much fuN! I will be one sad mama on the day mine move out and take those ornament boxes. we try to buy ourselves one new one each year also so that we will have some left. I may just have to do this with my grandchildren one day to fill our tree….dont’ even want to think about it! My oldest turns 10 on christmas eve, feeling sentimental over here!
these are just LOVELY! tara
Alicia - Sometimes things are just easier done alone…totally understand.
My mom started this same ornament tradition when I was a kid and it is really great now as an adult to open that box! I should have done that with my kiddos…maybe it’s never too late, right?
Rachel / cREaTe - i love your honesty with “sometimes i do … sometimes i don’t”. that made me laugh. 🙂 the lesson being it doesn’t matter HOW it’s done, just that you’re doing it. thanks for sharing, meg!
A pocket full of posies... - LOVE the ornament idea!!! might just have to be our craft today! and feeling peaceful?? ummmm, getting there! 🙂
Blessings!
Jill
Lisa - I love the ornament idea! Over the weekend I made your mint chocolate brownies and can I just say how much I LOVE them!! 🙂
paige - such a great tradition & you scored some super cuties too
merry christmas 🙂
Lorilee - Your tree looks lovely. We have given our boys ornaments for several years. We also exchanged ornaments with their cousings. Each boy has his own tub. I love the idea too!
Blessings,
Lorilee
the wild raspberry - seeing your lit tree and stockings hung with care makes me feel peaceful. what a pretty sight.
happy holidays~
chasity
patricia - peace out!!
Cate O'Malley - Love it! We do the same thing, although I like the idea of getting their ornaments together. This year, it was a soccer ball for my son and a cow for my daughter. Do you know how hard it is to find a non-comical cow? Our family ornament was a cruise ship – love cruises!
sara - what a beautiful tree!
Maria - I love the idea of keeping everyone’s ornaments separate…I so need to do that. I have just been buying a family ornament lately and the miniature ornaments for our advent calendar (which is now full)…the tree looks great!
jennifer - We do the same ornament thing here at our house. And I’ve got the same kind of system going, so I completely understand yours! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the picture of your Christmas tree and stockings hanging on the mantel. I’m experiencing decorated homes vicariously through all my blogging friends this year and your picture gave me a bit of much needed peace.
Christina - Such a beautiful spot there in your home…although I know your whole house is lovely! I need to figure out the stocking thing.
We also do the ornaments for our kids. They love it!
Dina - I do the same ornament thing with my kids. My mom did it for me and nothing made me happier than the day she handed over my box. I still have them all and they go on our tree along with all my kids’ ornaments. My oldest is only 5 and our tree is so full. I hate to think of that 1st box of 18 (or so) not being on our tree.
Rach - It’s just like it’s right out of a magazine! Beautiful! I love it!
Melanie - Your tree looks beautiful. No tree at our house this year because of the move but I am enjoying all the trees in blogland though.
Allison - I could find peace at your beautiful house. Mine has a half-dead Christmas tree in the living room. Barely any gifts wrapped yet. A falling-down shanty of a gingerbread house we tried to make tonight (it was a pre-made kit, and still i ruined it). I love your blog. It makes me happy every time I read it 🙂
julia - I love your Christmas tree and fireplace pic – I need to find some PEACE stocking holders (ever since #3 I’ve been doubling up).
Anne - Love it. Just like our family. I always remember being little and being so amazed at how MANY ornaments my parents had in their box. Now my daughter comments on how many I have… I love the ornaments that remind of you of something special the moment you pull them out.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Brooke - My parents did the same thing for my brothers & I growing up. It was so nice when my hubby and I got a tree of our own and I could decorate it with my ornaments that had a lot of meaning to them! Your kids will love it too 🙂
Love the pics. Your tree looks beautiful.
Staci - Not EVEN close….yet 🙂 But it will come…I’m just sure of it 🙂
Kelly - We do that for our boys too. This year it turned into a whole fiasco because I got them in Disneyland a couple months ago and one broke! How do you replace that?!? (PTL for Ebay! :)) However I also get us a family ornament because my sister & I both got married in one year and my parents’ tree was NAKED and it made me sad and I never want that to happen to me! 🙂
I did the same thing to a Star Wars toy last year that you did with the bike. My son still has no idea it’s really a toy. 🙂
your cool friend Cheryl - Your tree is beautiful!
~KS - My parents did this same thing for us when I was growing up. I moved out years ago, and I took my box of ornaments with me. And I love putting my own tree up every year because each ornament has such a wonderful memory to go along with it. And the toy bike with a hook was such a creative idea!
Sara Cameli - So pretty Meg….very peaceful picture…
Kate - What wonderful support we have in blogland! I feel peaceful too! I am at the airport, waiting to fly to Dallas with the in-laws… hubby trying to find me a starbucks just for fun… kids hainvg a blast rooting for their favorite team on the big screen (based soley on their uniform)… and I am getting to catch up on my fav blogs?! Peace!
adrienneK - so pretty!!! and yes i could make that ornament…..hmmm…. ok i call a craft day with meg!!!!! 😉
immyyas - I do that for my girls as well. It is such a fun tradition. I too don’t have any real system going on either… makes it less stressful that way : ) LOVE the picture of your tree… it looks like a postcard or like it is right out of a magazine. Another fun thing I did right out of high school & in college was ornament exchanges with my girlfriends… when your young & don’t have a lot to cover your tree (and your broke & can’t afford to buy all your friends real gifts) this is a GREAT way to accumulate them!
erica - i have a sean and we got him that same ornament this year (from kohls??). beautiful tree!
Diana - I made felt ornaments several years ago for my oldest son when he moved out after high school… and for a few years after that I added to the collection. I should do more of that. Especially since there are grandkids growing oh-so-fast. And start some for my other son. He might get married… someday. LOL!
Peaceful? Hmmmm. Not sure about that… to much medical stuff going on.
Thankful, yes. Thankful for my sweet hubby and the rest of my family. And for God in my life!
😀
TRACI - Love it and your tree is just GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!
No.17CherryTreeLane - I really am. There is so much chaos happening around me, and yet I feel a calm spirit about me. The Lord is allowing me to enjoy these moments, rather than stress about them.
He is good.