Saturday, December 13, 2008

A Christmas Tradition

Each year we add ornaments to our tree, but one ornament is special.  As a family we think of something significant that happened in the past year and try to find an ornament to represent it.  I love this tradition for many reasons, it's a time when we can remember what happened through the year and it's fun to see what each person thinks was most significant.  It's one of my few original traditions, where I haven't copied what one of our families did.  It's a time when we all go shopping together which hardly happens this time of year. One day when we are old and gray, I can see Ronnie and I reminiscing on our life together as we put up our Christmas tree.

Here is our collection so far:

12 10 08_0101

2000

Our first year together, this represents our marriage.   We were actually married in my parent's home, but I couldn't find an exact replica of their home so I thought this would do.

 

 

 

 

12 10 08_0098

2001

After getting married in Las Vegas we moved to Colorado.  A few miles north of us there were pastures full of buffaloes.  Also the University of Colorado's mascot is the Buffalo.

 

 

 

 

12 12 08_0232

2002

We were able to move back to Las Vegas.  I think the dice are self explanatory. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 10 08_0096

2003

Ronnie and I went to Monterey Bay, CA when we were dating.  Years later we were able to go back and visit this awesome place with Kyle and me being 7 months pregnant.  It was such a treat because it was only 65 in Monterey and 110 in Vegas.  (Lana got her own baby's first Christmas ornament so we choose this one for this year)

 

 

12 12 08_0228

2004

Besides kids this is probably the most significant thing to happen to us yet.  The purchase of our first home.  We were so lucky to have received a call from a dear friend telling us that the other side of her duplex was for sale.  I can truly say that great friends make the best neighbors. 

 

 

 

12 12 08_0227

2005

Yet another Monterey Bay ornament.  We could probably have one of these for every year because it is our favorite place to escape the Las Vegas heat.  This year was significant because Kyle was the first person in our family to go scuba diving. 

 

 

 

 

12 10 08_0099

2006

The year of the pickle.  I don't know what nutritional value a pickle has, probably none, but Lana lived off of pickles this whole year.  It effected our whole family, trust me on this. 

 

 

 

 

 

12 12 08_0230

2007

We started our first garden in Las Vegas.  We did the square foot gardening method and had a lot of fun caring for it.  We had a a very prolific eggplant bush that produced eggplants the size of your head!

 

 

 

 

12 12 08_0233

2008

This year we ventured to southern CA for our family vacation.  We hit the highlights with the kids and were able to see the baby pandas at the San Diego Zoo. 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't even begin to guess what next year will bring, but looking back on the years I feel truly blessed.

4 comments:

Smart Helm said...

I can't believe I missed the Marathon Post! It is always so fun to volenteer at those types of activities because u can feel apart of it without the actually effort of running 26 miles!
I love ur idea of only one ornament! My mother got us each a new one every year... our tree got kinda full pretty fast (8 children). It was nice to have ornaments to put on my tree when I moved out, but I like ur family one much better.
Way to find a pickle!

Nutty Hamster Chick said...

Very cool. I agaree with Melanie about the pickle. How fun and who'd have thunk it.

I agree it will be so fun to look back on as the years go by.

Eliza said...

I totally have a pickle ornament! Its a German tradition that my family has had for a while.

Where do you find such perfect ornaments? I love this tradition. Last year I did like Melanie's family and bought one for each kid.

Fun! I'm glad that you and Ronnie will be old and gray with lots of memories one day.

Shawna said...

Eliza ~ my mom does the hide the pickle tradition with the kids on her tree. Kyle is always bummed when he finds it on our tree and I don't give him money.

We look at every Christmas store we come across to find the prefect ornament.

Both sets of grandparents buy an ornament for the kids each year, so that's 4. Then there's the ornaments they make at school at least 2. Then the ones I find while shopping and just have to have, probably 10. Pretty soon we wont be able to see the branches!