Decorating our Christmas tree is one of my absolute favorite things to do, even more so now that I have kids.
Years ago, as I spent my time traveling for work and exploring the different cities my travels took me to, I decided that buying an ornament in every new city would be a great souvenir. It soon evolved into buying an ornament for every experience, even if it was in the next city over. Along with that, our family also decided that having a Christmas ornament exchange would be a fun way to buy gifts for our rather large Filipino family and to remember that year every time we pulled out our ornaments.
Pulling out the box of ornaments has become a trip down memory lane for me. Just last night, Malia watched me pull my Lion King ornament out of the box. As I put it up on the tree, I told her how Simba came to life on stage and sang all of the songs from the Disney Movie.
I loved telling her about when her daddy and I drove up the Northern Coast of California as I hung up the amazing glass ship that I picked up in a small shop in Fort Bragg, California.
I loved helping her place the beautiful Li Bien Ornament that I always manage to snag each year during our ornament exchange. These beautiful ornaments are sold at Pier One each year and I just love them.
Collecting ornaments are such a wonderful trip down memory lane for me and it’s a joy to share this tradition with my kids. I love reliving my adventures and sharing stories with them from years past. I hope it’s a tradition that is valued and continued in future generations.
[…] favorite thing about our holiday gift exchange is re-living the memory of that year as we unwrap the ornaments to decorate the tree. And every ornament is well thought out and shares the style and character of the person bringing […]