A Tour of my Christmas Tree: All of my Favorite Ornaments and the Stories Behind Each One

I love my Christmas Tree. Every single ornament on my tree has a story behind it. Some of them are ornaments made by my great grandparents before I was even born. Some of them are ornaments passed down to me from my mom or my grandma. A lot of them are celebrating moments in my life. I have ornaments for my kiddos too. So, let's take a tour of my Christmas tree, shall we? 

The tree itself is a 6.5 foot, pre-lit, multicolored Madison Pine. I bought it several years ago when I decided I didn't have time to spend HOURS decorating our huge, yet beautiful, 8' tree. The last time I put it up was when Froot Loop was 2 months old. I never thought I'd go with a pre-lit tree, but it really is a huge time saver and they're pretty enough. 

Anyway, here's some ornaments. Surprisingly, we don't have any Star Trek ornaments on our tree, and I'm not sure why. I know I've gotten a few for Honey Graham, but I think he plays with them instead of putting them on the tree! 

As always, the first ornament on the tree is always a big deal. This year, it was Froot Loop's favorite: the H-E-B ornament I got him a couple of years ago. 

Last year, it was the TARDIS ornament. (I have a K-9 and a Dalek too!)

I have several of the Season's Treatings ornaments too. I started collecting them the year Honey Graham and I got married, but I've fallen behind in buying them for some reason. I need to get caught up! 

There's a lot of them on there that I've made. I love making Christmas ornaments. A lot of them are ones that I've sewn. 

I have a beautiful ornament for Honey Graham's and my [First Christmas together] when we were dating (soon to be engaged). It's one of my favorites: it's a clear snowflake with the year on it. We were given a pretty one the following year as a wedding present. It has wedding rings and birds on it. 

I bought a New Home when we moved in this house. Our first Christmas here was amazing. I went all out on the Christmas decorations and lights. I've had to downscale some since I have two little distractions running around all the time, but I very vividly remember that first Christmas in this wonderful house. 

This one is for Froot Loop's first Christmas.

Then, we bought THIS for Cocoa Puff's first one. 

I really wanted a [Christmas pickle] ornament, so I bought this one when I bought our humongous tree for our first Christmas here. There's some stories of tradition behind it, and when the kids are a LITTLE older, I may join in that tradition. 

One year, the first ornament on the tree was our Yellowstone National Park ornament. That's where we took our honeymoon and it's one of my favorite places in the world. 

I have a bunch of ornaments that I made out of seashells and a wooden boat from the year we went to South Padre Island to scatter Honey Graham's Grandad's ashes. It's a fun way to remember that vacation. 

Of course, I have several chili pepper ornaments. Most of them I have picked up at craft shows or at El Mercado in San Antonio. I actually have a smaller tree that is totally devoted to Chili Pepper, Fiesta, and Mexican ornaments. It even has chili pepper lights. I haven't put it up for a few years because Froot Loop wouldn't leave it alone. 

I have a couple of flamingo ornaments as well. I'm actually not sure where my flamingo obsession started, but it has grown through the years. They are such silly looking birds!

I also have a very decent collection of Snoopy ornaments from over the years. I grew up with a dad who absolutely loved Snoopy, and I have that love too. I very vividly remember reading Charles Schulz's last Peanuts comic and then him dying right after. That was a pretty sad day in our house.

This fun lifesavers ornament is the first Christmas ornament I can remember. My parents had it toward the bottom of the tree every year and I kept it with me when I got married and moved out. 

These jingle bells are a lot of fun because the dog and the boys jingle them a lot. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. My mom used to hang all the jingly ornaments on the bottom of the tree for the cats to ring when they'd settle down on the tree skirt. Fun memories. Of course, sometimes, we'd end up with jingle bells all over the house. Cats...

There are several ornaments that my grandparents and great granparents made. They'd start with satin ornaments like THESE and decorate them with rick rack, ribbons, glitter, and sequins held in place with straight pins. I remember making them with my grandparents and family when I was little, but then we decided that we all had enough of them and we stopped making them. When I was helping my grandma clean out my grandpa's workshop after he died, we found several boxes of ornament making supplies. I wish I had kept them. 

Another favorite ornament is my Yukon Cornelius from the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie. He was my favorite character from that movie when I was little and someone bought this ornament for me one year. 

I have bought the boys an ornament each year. As previously mentioned, Froot Loop got an H-E-B ornament two years ago. Last year, he got a fun tricycle ornament. Ours has the Barefoot Bear on it. This year, Froot Loop is getting this Thomas the Train ornament and Cocoa Puff is getting a cute barn one. 

Another favorite that I put on every year are my weird disco ball ones. I bought them when I was in high school when I went through a weird disco ball phase. Hey, they were awesome. And they look super cool on the tree with all the lights reflecting on them and stuff. 

Let's not forget my Chicago Cubs ornament! GO CUBS! My dad has had a tradition every year where his Chicago Cubs ornament gets placed on the tree in a position proportionate to how well the Cubs did that season. We had a LOT of years where the Cubs ornament was at the bottom, or even around the back where we couldn't even see it. (it was SO HARD growing up as a Cubs fan, man. They stunk.) But THIS YEAR! The year the Cubs went ALL THE WAY and WON THE WORLD SERIES, my Dad's Cubs ornament is the STAR OF THEIR TREE! Mine is at the very top, on the tallest branch. Woo!

I have several really cute dog ornaments, some with pictures of my dogs, others that are just dogs or about dogs. Dogs are a big deal in our household. Crunch Berries and Lucky Charms mean the world to us, and I'm sure any other dog in our family will as well. Both Honey Graham and I had several dogs growing up, and we have some very sweet memories of those canines. 

Cocoa Puff helped make me some ornaments. I found these really cool pipe cleaners that already look like candy canes. I had Cocoa Puff help me bend them into candy canes. They're some of my favorites now because he made them!

He also made a pinecone ornament at an art festival in town. They put spray glue on a pinecone and put it in a container full of red glitter. Then, they put the lid on and had him shake it! He had so much fun shaking that thing! Then, I picked him up and shook him a little and wiggled him around, which made him laugh and laugh! He did a great job! 

Froot Loop has also helped me make ornaments. One year for Christmas, we took sparkly pipe cleaners and I had him thread beads and jingle bells and buttons onto it, then I wrapped it around a pencil and made these cool little guys.

This year, both of the boys colored some wooden ornaments for me and I put them on the tree. 

This was a really fun and really easy ornament that Froot Loop made earlier this week. I hope to post a tutorial soon.

I have a couple different music instruments hanging on my tree too. I got a guitar ornament the year after I got a guitar for Christmas and taught myself how to play. I also got a really cute set of bongos since I am a drummer. 

This Rock Em Sock Em Robots ornament makes me smile every year. It's such a silly game and I have fun memories of playing this game with my Dad when I was little. Froot Loop recently discovered it on the tree and I've found him playing with it a few times. Yes, the ornament actually works!

When I was really little, I loved rabbits. I wanted a rabbit and I really spent a lot of time and energy trying to convince my parents to let me have a rabbit. Fortunately, the boys who lived behind us had a couple rabbits so I was able to spend some time with them. Anyway, I really loved Thumper the rabbit from Bambi. Plus, my grandpa had a stuffed Thumper (I don't know why) that he would always let me play with when I was there. When my Grandpa died, my Grandma gave me that little stuffed Thumper. This Bambi and Thumper ornament came out the year he died, and I just had to have it. It's a sweet reminder of my Grandpa. 

This "Belvideer" ornament is one of the first ornaments I ever remember. It's also kind of funny because we actually lived in a city with the same name for quite awhile. 

Honey Graham bought me this ornament from one of my favorite shops in Colorado when we lived there. He bought it for me when we were moving away as a reminder of all of our favorite places to shop and look around. He bought it to celebrate my Irish heritage and because I had admired it the last several times we shopped in there but didn't buy it because we had no money. Sigh. I really do miss shopping in Fort Collins. 

My very favorite toys growing up were Hot Wheels. I had a huge collection and I'd often have racing tournaments. I'd assign a car to each one of my family members and friends and even stuffed animals/toys and race them all day. My dad would help me set up an awesome track and we'd race our hearts out. I found this cool ornament a few years back and I snatched it up! 

I also have a few different initial ornaments  on my tree. I think they're just fun and when Froot Loop was 2, he loved pointing out the different letters on the tree!

I think my very favorite ornament though is the Lady and Tramp ornament. That is my all-time favorite movie, even at 31 years old. It is the first movie I ever remember watching (in the basement of my Grandma's house when we were temporarily living there while our house was being built) and I watch it every year on Valentine's Day with my boys. 

So there's my tree. I love my tree. I love my ornaments. The tree is the first Christmas decoration up every year and it's the last thing I take down. It's so full of memories and I often find myself gazing at my tree and ornaments and remembering all the things the ornaments represent. 

What is your favorite Christmas ornament on your tree?