My Christmas Keepsakes
As I unpacked our Christmas decorations, and hung our old treasures on our tree, I noticed a framed ornament holding a picture of Lil’ J’s first ultrasound. It’s one of my favorites. And although that was five years ago, I can’t bare to change out the photo, because it reminds me of the excitement I felt that year as our first baby grew in my belly.
Each year when we put up the Christmas tree, I look forward to hanging up the ornaments we’ve collected from years past. It’s like a walk down memory lane, and every year we try to add to it.
I’ve all but given up on attempting Pinterest crafts, but I can’t help myself come Christmas time. Last year we made these Santa hand prints.
This year we did these snowman handprints, and I must say, they were harder to make than I thought it would be, but they turned out better than I expected.
The little keepsakes like these are by far my favorites on the tree. If you ask me, nothing beats a tree decorated with personal treasures.
Along with making our own homemade ornaments, we each also pick out other keepsake ornaments to commemorate the year. Each of us chooses one to add to the tree.
These are the ones we picked out this year:
Lil’ J says the angel I picked out looks like her Aunt Kimberly. The ornament holding our family photo from this year also holds our voices together saying Merry Christmas (Ok, I chose that one for my husband). I’m looking forward to listening to that one in years to come. Big T didn’t care much, but the ornament of Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus reminds me of my sweet son, so that represents his this year. Then of course Lil’ J wanted a princess ornament, but I love that it holds her photo.
While I could change out her photo each year, I’m thinking I’ll leave it the same. To remind me of how sweet she was the year she picked it out. And just like her ultrasound photo, each year I can look at the treasure and smile at how much she’s grown since this Christmas.
What ornaments do you treasure most?
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I’m passionate about making and saving memories, I’m partnering with Hallmark to share some of my life’s special moments and occasions including getting ready for Christmas! All opinions (and typos) are my own.
Tags: christmas, hallmark, keepsake, keepsake ornaments
Love Hallmark ornaments. Great choices! I’m headed there with my Gold Crown rewards to pick out a few holiday cards this week.
I love all of the ones that we have made together. We actually just did the snowman ones yesterday…the kids LOVED getting their hands messy in the paint. We actually ended up doing some snowman prints on paper as well because the 16 ornaments we made (gifts for family) just weren’t enough. Silly kids!
I loveeeee the black angel….and the Nativity:-)
I live in Canada so when I saw the black angel ornanments, I jumped for joy and bought the male and female. They’re one of my favorite ornaments on the tree
I love any personalized ornaments or any that were homemade. When I moved out and got married, my mom gave me all of the ornaments that I had made as a child or had been given to me during my childhood.
My grandma used to get me a Keepsake Ornament each year, and every year as I pull them out I remember why I picked that one and how lucky I am to have that base of ornaments for my own tree. She even got a couple for my older son before she passed away, and they are very special to me now that she’s gone.