I always enjoy pulling out all the Christmas decorations every year. My favorite part of Christmas decorating is probably decorating the Christmas tree - I love the beautiful lights and ornaments. My husband recently commented that his favorite part about the Christmas tree was not the tree itself, but the recollection of memories associated with the ornaments. These memories are certainly precious.
Every Christmas while I was growing up (and still to this day), everyone in my family got a new ornament. When I got married, my mom gave me all of my ornaments from my childhood. One of my favorites, even to this day, is this Hallmark gingerbread house. The picture really doesn't do it justice - it sparkles beautifully.
If you examined the ornaments on my tree, you'd probably notice the large number of Snoopy ornaments. I have liked Snoopy a lot since I was little.
Some ornaments are newer but still carry great memories. The first year we had each of our dogs (Ali and Reeses) we got them each an ornament.
And, of course, the ornament from our first Christmas together as a married couple. My husband surprised me with this one. :)
Last year, during the holidays, my husband and I were still debating what we should name our baby girl. Although we tossed around lots of ideas, our most serious debate was between the names "Ella" and "Emma." My husband favored Emma more, and I favored Ella more. As we were driving home from spending Christmas with our families, we finally decided on the name Ella. When we stopped to eat lunch, my husband pulled an ornament with Ella's name on it out of the back. To this day I don't know if he had one that said "Emma" also, or if he just knew we'd end up with the name "Ella." Either way, I was happily surprised with the ornament. Pulling this ornament out of the Christmas decorations box brought a big smile to my face. :)
Side note: I have learned it is really hard to take pictures of ornaments :)