Start A Tradition...

Our 2008 "On The Road Again" Travel Tree

Reading this, you may already have a family full of already established traditions. Or you may be looking to start your own. Either way, I think it is always fun to hear about traditions, even if it’s something our family doesn’t adopt that season, or even if it’s a tradition we already have, maybe someone else has a new twist on it.

A tradition Ryan and I started almost 2 and a half years go after we had just been dating a few months, was to collect a Christmas ornament everywhere we traveled to. If your not a big traveler, you could collect one for special outings you have, or field trips your kids take with school groups. Most places that feature souvenir or gift shops of any sort, carry Christmas ornaments most of the year. If we tour or visit a place that doesn’t have Christmas ornaments, or don’t have them during the season we visit, we will find something as close as we can get, and use it for an ornament.

For example, we went last year to a Renaissance Festival that didn’t have any ornaments. So, we bought a porcelain magnet they were selling and added an ornament hanger to it, and instantly we had what looked like a professional made Christmas ornament. No one knew it was a magnet! Most of the time you can find ornaments at these shops for anywhere from $5.00 to 15.00 each, so it’s a relatively reasonable tradition to start.

We do a specific tree (right now its just a 4 footer, but we’re collecting more and more, so it may get bigger than that within the next year or two) that has all of our travel ornaments on it. We top it with a star, and I can’t help but think about that star being like the light leading the Wisemen and Shepherds from all over, to come meet baby Jesus. We’ve been all over (hence the travel ornaments) but, still the star brings us back to what it is all about and where Christmas originated, and its true meaning and celebration of Christ’s birth.

I don’t have them on mine, but a lot of ladies I know are doing paper mache type Christmas balls, with pieces of maps from places they have been, glued onto them as extra embellishments. You can also use blown glass planes and globes to add to your tree if you want more “themed filler”. The ideas are endless, and that’s what makes traditions fun and individual to you and your family.

Another fun part about it is, purchasing the Christmas ornaments on trips almost always spurs on conversation with the clerks, and with that, we usually learn some neat facts about the way that person or people in that area celebrate Christmas



Merry Christmas Ya'll! It's almost here!

*Heth*.