Another one of my favorite family Christmas traditions is collecting ornaments.

Every year I buy the kids each their own ornament. As they get old enough, I let them pick out their own.  I label them with the year and write a little note with them about how and why we chose that one.  It is fun to open them every Christmas and share the stories with the kids.  Now that they are bigger, they can even remember some from past years.

We also try to pick up a Christmas ornament everywhere we travel.  They provide a great trip (haha! get it? trip!!) down memory lane each year when we open them and decorate our tree.

But the best ornament collection we have is Hubby’s dad’s.  He has a hobby. He makes Christmas ornaments. Can you believe that?  I am eternally impressed with this talent.  Adorable, painted wooden ornaments that make our tree look like an old fashioned Christmas.

Every year he designs one and makes it for everyone in the family as well as some of their closest friends. He makes one for each couple and each child, so the grandchildren each have one of their own. There are 15 to make for the immediate family alone, so that gives you some idea of how many he has to make every year. Needless to say, he sometimes spends all year working on ornaments.He always unveils The Ornament at Thanksgiving dinner. It is a special tradition that is always sure to get the Christmas season underway. This year he presented us with wooden butterflies. Everyone is painted a little differently.

Here is a picture of some of my favorite ornaments he has made over the years.

Between my ornaments and Gramps’ ornaments, when my kids leave the house and start a life on their own, they should have more than enough ornaments to fill a tree.