For over 20 years, I’ve been collecting Christmas ornaments for my three sons.
I would see them on my trees and anticipate the day when they would no longer hang on my branches and proudly announce that I was gathering these ornaments for a very special moment.
All over the world – El Salvador, Peru, Germany, in Maine, Florida and beyond, I saw ornaments and brought them home and remembered to tell my olive shoots that one day when they got married, those gifts would go to live in their homes to be enjoyed by their own families.
It was joyful seeing all the lovely tokens and memories on my trees. There is a sushi ornament, a snowman mowing a lawn, a giant “X” because that’s my middle son’s middle initial, the homemade Christmas bell Nate made when he was a wee little boy, so many I want to tell you about each one!
Oh and the enormous sparkly ball that Aaron faithfully prominently puts on our largest tree (a family tradition)…
This year after the holidays, I saw my hands doing the thing I had promised long ago.
Something that caused my heart to tug.
I packed those ornaments I had long saved in two separate boxes
Because two of my olive shoots are getting married. I see this as a good thing, a wonderful thing actually, but it also makes me a little sad.
This blog post was brought to you by the word “see” and the 
enjoyable gang at Five minute Friday!
My Awesome Olive Shoots 
I think ornaments tell stories and that alone, makes them special. Glad I stopped by from Lisa-Jo’s. 🙂
We did this at our house. Every year we crafted or bought an ornament for each child, personalized with the year and their name. We also included the same ornament for mom and dad each year, because we had the foresight to realize that one day our own tree would be bare.
A couple of weeks ago, Micah and The Girl decorated our Xmas tree. As they took out each ornament, they separated his and boxed them up to take home with them. We had a lot of fun looking and remembering.
Thankfully our trees will not be empty, the Hubs gave me a felt sewing machine ornament this year and we added some Brazilian ornaments to our tree. Still there will be some sweet rememberances that will be on different trees. I like how you made it a sweet moment between Micah and The Girl. That is a very honorable way to make the transition! Thanks for sharing, Mary! ❤
What a lovely idea, I’m going to try and do something like this for my kids 🙂
It’s a fun thing that’s for sure but just remember one day you will give those ornaments to your babies and it’s not as easy as you might think! Go for it!