Works For Me Wednesday

They started playing Christmas music on the radio today!!!! So, despite the fact that I'm sitting here with the windows wide open, enjoying the fresh fall air, I feel a surge of Christmas spirit. Therefore, I decided to give my "Works For Me Wednesday" post a Christmas flair.

Cliff and I were married over Thanksgiving weekend in 1984. I left my family in Long Island, NY and moved to Jacksonville, FL because Cliff was stationed there in the Navy. That first Christmas tree we put up was pretty bare. One lady thought to give me some handmade ornaments at my bridal shower. With all the wedding stuff going on, I never gave my first married Christmas a thought. Cliff bought a few boxes of colored balls and a card of tinsel. Our tree had no history on it!! That has changed over the years and I now have ornaments on my tree that used to hang on my parent's tree when I was a kid.

A few years ago, I decided to give the kids Christmas ornaments as sort of the Thanksgiving, decorate the house and tree weekend. One day, when they each have homes and Christmas traditions and trees of their own, I want them to have memories and a piece of "home." I try to choose ornaments that have something to do with what has gone on in their lives during the past year. I typically do not buy Hallmark ornaments for them because I'm looking for unique and unusal ones and besides, Cliff and I enjoy hunting for just the right ones.

One year, our family took a major vacation to FL. I used those empty clear glass balls and filled them with sand from the beach and the little shells the kids collected. I made a tag in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head that said, "Vacation Memories, 2005." One year Josh went to Germany so we got him a German blown glass ornament in the shape of a hot dog. Amy was a nun in the "Sound of Music" at school so she got an Austrian blown glass ornament in the shape of a church. (You get the idea)

I thought maybe the kids would think this tradition kind of silly but they have grown quite fond of it. They now prefer to get the ornaments a little closer to Christmas.

Josh and Amy get 2 per year because they're older and their days of this being their home at Christmas are numbered, but I think I will continue this tradition even once they're gone and married.

I already have 2 ornaments for this year. I begin the hunt as soon as I spot the ornaments on the store shelves.

I love my Christmas ornaments. One day I hope to make a scrapbook of them and the history behind each one. I think through Nov. & Dec. I will showcase some of them in my Friday show & tells.

For now, here's some of the ones we've given the kids.