It’s no secret that I love holidays and traditions to include our annual keepsake ornament. The Christmas tree going up the living room is an indication that the holiday season is right around the corner. This year I put the tree up WAY earlier than I normally do. Don’t hate or judge me, but I actually decorated the day after Halloween. The joy of the holidays was needed after a mess of the year it’s been. Plus then I can focus on cookie making and helping to decorate our families home too.
The Christmas tree holds a bit more nostalgia every year as we decorate it with ornaments. The first Christmas TJ and I were together I gifted him a snowflake ornament with “Franzi & TJ 2009” engraved on it. This was very bold since our first Christmas together was just 20 days after our first date. However, I was very confident he was the one even only a few weeks together.
We continued the ornament tradition since then. Each year TJ and I order a metal ornament with a message engraved on it reflect the year. We not only order a new ornament, but have the tradition of unwrapping the ornaments and putting them on the tree. It’s so fun to read the ornaments from each year as we decorate the tree. We get to relive the memories. This year’s ornament couldn’t have been more appropriate, “Our First Pandemic 2020.” I hope I don’t jinx us to have more than one pandemic since it says our “first.”
In addition the engraved ornaments we also get a photo ornament with an image from our annual photo shoot. I love these ornaments because I get to hang beautiful images on my tree. Our first photo ornament is with a wedding photo, the year we started these. Since then we have added an ornament from our Paris trip and of different photographers who have captured us over the years.
I wanted to share these traditions because we’ve grown to love it so much. It brings us joy for the holidays. In our house, ornaments have become a hallmark of the holiday season so it only made sense to share it with you so you can start your own tradition or even start this tradition for yourselves.
