Document Your Christmas Ornaments
by Jane Howden
I Love Christmas ornaments; it’s really one of the few Christmassy things I am truly into. I don’t like the horribly expensive designer ornaments and I don’t like the fully co-coordinating trees where everything matches by design or color. No – I like my ornaments to say something; each and every one of them. I believe Christmas ornaments are one of the best ways to express the joyfulness and meaning of the season yet in the simplest of ways.
I commenced the family tradition of adding to our Christmas ornaments when my husband and I were married. In those day we had but a tiny tree, in fact it sat on top of a coffee table so it could gain some stature in our living room and we started off with a very small collection of decorations. Each year we would add one or two to our assortment and over the years our collection grew as did the size of our tree. When our daughter was born I decided that from then on every Christmas we would give her an ornament in her stocking – it didn’t have to be expensive; just a cute ornament from a department store but one that was pertinent to who she was at that stage in her life and we followed this theme when our son joined our family. Each year I have added to our decoration collection through these gifts to our children and the children, themselves have added to the mix by making special treasures at school. We now have ornaments of varying sizes, with different themes and assorted designs, all of them bringing back memories of years gone by. They have become to us a history of family love and commitment spoken in ornaments, hanging upon the branches of our tree.
This year I felt it was time to record this history and to recall why it was each ornament came to join us or was purchased with such care. Thanks to an idea sparked via a lovely little album designed for Thanksgiving by the very talented Cathy Zieski, which I have adapted for my own purposes, I have now documented these special ornaments.
Perhaps when you are taking down your Christmas tree this year you might like to pause and photograph those special items that hangs there for but a brief time each year and record their stories for your own children and/or grandchildren.
supplies
- Small 6×4 photo album
- White cardstock
- Patterned paper off-cuts
- Print off the psd files onto white cardstock (or plain paper will work) and carefully cut around the light gray border to give you the 6×4 cards.
download title & back page
download book pages - Cut 1in wide x 2.75in long strips from your patterned paper off cuts and adhere them inside the right hand side box.
- Journal about your ornament in the space provided and add the year in the space underneath the patterned paper.
- Pop each card along with your relevant ornament photograph into the album.
I have also provided a title page and back page so you may complete your Christmas Decorations album.
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This would be a great idea for my family as each of us also buy one new ornament every year! Thanks Jane!