Christmas Tree Treasures

I'm joining in a little late, but Morning Glory is hosting Christmas Tree Treasures today. And, just because I am in a Christmas-two-for-one-sale kinda mood, No Cool Story also invited us to share some favorite ornaments as well. So go to both of those blogs and pick up on everyone's treasures! There's some really precious things and some new blog friends to be made. 'Tis the season!

I ransacked the Christmas box and picked out a few of ours - the tree trimming is quite behind schedule this year...but here's a sampling. You'll just have to wait for the picture of a completely decked out evergreen sometime later in the week month.

Each year I've let the boys pick out a favorite new ornament to add to the tree. I label them with their name and the year, and I plan to give them a box of their ornaments for their first married Christmas. This was Cal's first pick, and I love it because he really did spot this bell from far away, and his hand was barely big enough to hold onto it, and he loved the sound it made.

This was Henry's pick last year. He had just started talking and we were wandering the Christmas decorations in search of an ornament for Cal when Henry went crazy: "Do-wah! Do-wah! Do-wah!" I didn't even realize he knew who she was (that was before she was a name in our household, really)or that he was so passionate about her. So Dora it was.

David and I try to also pick out an ornament that is special or unique to us as a couple, or reminds of something we did during the year. This amazing blown glass ornament was what we picked out on our Thanksgiving trip a couple years ago when we went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. It is well over 4" in diameter, and has some amazing colors in it. I love it.

David's sister gave us this ornament a couple years ago - I call her Funky Gift Girl and she just makes me smile when I pull her out of the box each year.

These are my very, very favorites. I saw them a couple years in a row at a craft fair in my hometown but never bought them for myself. Then my grandma picked out a few for me one year, and my brother and mom added to the collection with some smaller wood and similar crystal-like ones a year or two later. I just love the beauty and neatness of the wood. And they smell wonderful.

I have a half dozen of these little matrushka doll ornaments. I always think of Ukraine an extra lot at holiday time, perhaps because it was a time in my life when I felt closest to the Savior - like Christmas all year long. These little girls remind me of that time.

At our wedding luncheon, each guest received a little bell to ring whenever they wanted David and I to kiss. Very few of the bells were alike, and many of the guests and friends still have our wedding bells displayed somewhere in their house. I love bells - when I saw this little collection in a thrift store, I had to have them. They remind me of my wedding day and also of all the rites of passage in life that bells signify. When I hang them on my tree, I invariably think of "tintinnabulation."

This is the temple where we were married, and I love this ornament - how delicate and golden it is.

This is one of my greatest treasures - my sister made it last year. Each page has a little print of pictures of the Savior's life from birth to resurrection, and each picture goes with the most beautiful poem that my sister wrote. I can't read it without crying and feeling such gratitude for the birth of Jesus, for his life and mission and the promise of eternal life.

And this is the country angel that one of my young women's leaders made for us as a wedding gift with a little note to use it on our first Christmas together. I like her quaintness and simplicity, and she has topped our tree every year.