For me it was a mouse.
A tiny mouse sleeping peacefully inside a tiny matchbox.
That was my favorite Christmas ornament, the one that I couldn't wait to find when I opened up the ornament box, the one that always had a special place on the tree every year.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is giving my children a special ornament every year. I love thinking about them when I pick it out. I love watching them look through all "their" ornaments every year when we decorate the tree. I love that they have favorites too.
I love that way back when I only had 3 kids I found these ornament boxes.
They have a space for each ornament and then a label that you can write what the ornament was, the year, who it was from and why you bought it or what special meaning it has. I bought 6 of them. Three for my current children and three for the future children I hoped to have.
And then our sweet little number 7 came along.
By that time they didn't make the boxes anymore. Believe me, I have looked high and low. I have scoured the stores and Internet. They just don't exist. So, sadly, she has a big ole plastic ornament organizer for her special treasures. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind one bit. (But I do!)
Some years I have really stressed about getting ornaments. How could I find the perfect one for each child to capture their year? One year I opened up their boxes and realized that there were several boring ornaments in a row. Like the year I must have been completely overwhelmed because I just bought a pack of simple snowflake ornaments and gave them each one (lame). Then the next year was the September 11th tragedy and so I felt I had to get a patriotic one and so they all got the exact same flag ornament. The very next year we moved into our new house and so I got them all "new house" ornaments. What was I thinking?
I have since simplified my ornament purchasing. I no longer have to find the perfect ornament. I just need it to be fun and whimsical and memorable. Kind of like a mouse in a matchbox. Now, every once in a while I do come across a really good one. Like last year when I found a snowman hugging a tree and it just happened to be Tyler's first year on the Tree Huggers football team. Or when I found the sparkly turtle wearing a Santa hat the year Brandon got Bilbo. Mostly though, I just go for the fun and different ones.
(No, that red ball is not one of her special ornaments.
This year I tried something totally different. In mid-November I packed all the kids into the car and headed to Hobby Lobby. I told them that this year they were going to pick out their own ornaments. I told them there were only 2 rules. One, they had to really look through all the ornaments and make their choice thoughtfully. And two, they were not allowed to make any comments about what other kids were picking. They couldn't say, "That one's dumb," or "Why are you picking that one?" They all agreed to the rules and the hunt began.
I have since simplified my ornament purchasing. I no longer have to find the perfect ornament. I just need it to be fun and whimsical and memorable. Kind of like a mouse in a matchbox. Now, every once in a while I do come across a really good one. Like last year when I found a snowman hugging a tree and it just happened to be Tyler's first year on the Tree Huggers football team. Or when I found the sparkly turtle wearing a Santa hat the year Brandon got Bilbo. Mostly though, I just go for the fun and different ones.
(No, that red ball is not one of her special ornaments.I am a little more creative than that, thank you very much.)
This year I tried something totally different. In mid-November I packed all the kids into the car and headed to Hobby Lobby. I told them that this year they were going to pick out their own ornaments. I told them there were only 2 rules. One, they had to really look through all the ornaments and make their choice thoughtfully. And two, they were not allowed to make any comments about what other kids were picking. They couldn't say, "That one's dumb," or "Why are you picking that one?" They all agreed to the rules and the hunt began.
Some got it done right away and some took forever. And guess who was the only person that had a hard time with rule number 2? Yep, me! I would look at some of the choices and think, "Really? That's what you really want?" But I bit my tongue. I bit it hard and placed the big yellow smiley face wearing a straw hat up on the counter and paid for it.
I mean, a smiley face in a straw hat is whimsical, right? It's fun, isn't it? It's definitely memorable and I think it will make us laugh in the years to come, and actually I love the thought of that.
And so, nestled all throughout the branches of our magical Christmas tree are the ornaments of my children's lives. The ornaments that tell their stories, that reflect who they are and how much I love them. We have doggies and leg lamps, BYU footballs and cell phones, we have fairies and sparkly shoes, Star Wars and snowmen, we have pianos and trains, a pine cone hedgehog and a Santa eating at McDonalds.
And so, nestled all throughout the branches of our magical Christmas tree are the ornaments of my children's lives. The ornaments that tell their stories, that reflect who they are and how much I love them. We have doggies and leg lamps, BYU footballs and cell phones, we have fairies and sparkly shoes, Star Wars and snowmen, we have pianos and trains, a pine cone hedgehog and a Santa eating at McDonalds. In my opinion, we have the perfect tree
And I think my kids and my tiny mouse would agree.
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