Holiday suggestion for "new" parents

[SoCalDem]

Get each child one special ornament each year and use a sharpie for the year and initials of each kid..I had two that started with S, so we used 1,2,3,..

As the ornaments pile up year after year, they LOVE to get their own ornament box out, and carefully place their own..

When they grew up , their first Christmas away from home, we boxed them up and wrapped it for a special gift.. We included the school years decorations too..

They remembered every single year with their special ornaments:)

If you have left out a few years, you can sneak some in, and they might not notice:)

[abelenkpe]

1. Fabulous!

That is such a great idea. I love the idea of little family ritual like that. I think we will have to do that too. Thanks!

[SW FL Dem]

2. Great idea

My mom used to do this and it was special to get "my" ornaments to put on my first tree.

I have my own grown up version of this. I bought a special ornament for hubby's and my first Christmas together. We now have a collection of 22 crystal ornaments that I display on an ornament tree in the china cabinet year round. Now that we have tile floors, I don't dare put them on the tree, I would be really upset if I broke one of them.

[SoCalDem]

3. When each one of my boys was born, an elderly friend hand-painted

an ornament for each one of them..She was in her 80's and had poor eyesight, yet she handmade an exquisite personalized porcelain ornament with their name and birthdate. . Every year, these rough and tumble boys would get out the box that held their special onmament and handle it with such care..making sure only the strongest branch would do..

We would also get ornaments for them that were a theme. One year we got bicyle ornaments, and another year got cartoon characters.. We always let them pick out their own, as long as it was within the theme..

[Sabriel]

4. We do this, too, on the cheap

I pick up ornaments when they're 75-90% off after Xmas and give them out the next year. Saves a bunch.

I'm doing this because a family friend did it for us when we were kids, and now we all have a tree's worth of our own ornaments. It's a wonderful tradition, if you can keep up with it.