Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Christmas Traditions

Traditions add depth to families, they give a comforting constant.

Many families collect ornaments and enjoy picking out a special one each year. We do this too, but with a little bit of a twist. We choose one ornament to represent the most important event of the year-just one per year for the entire family. I'm glad we started out with just one-can you imagine how expensive it'd be to buy one for each of our family members ;)

I'd like to share our years with you today: The first 13 years of our marriage are chronicled on this wreath. The ornaments start at the top and go clockwise:

Our first year is celebrated by two ornaments that say "Our First Christmas." This was 1995.

1996-Pregnant Kangaroo, I was six months pregnant with Ashlyn.

1997-Ashlyn's first Christmas-a teddy bear on a rocking horse.

1998-We joined Bell Baptist Church, represented by a gold & maroon bell. This church grew us tremendously and the PRC was birthed from there.

1999-The call to start the PRC, symbolized by an ornament with John 3:16 on it.

2000-Millennium Baby ornament for Hope's arrival into this world.

2001-An ornament that represents what touched all of us that year-9/11. This ornament is an American flag heart.

2002-We bought our land in Sunset, which looks a lot like the winter scene in the country on the beautiful tear shaped ornament. I cried when I looked at this one this year, since our land is on the market.

2003-My first Christmas for Bethany.

2004-Shane's tassel from his 2006 graduation from college (we didn't find one that year, so we retrofitted the wreath after he graduated). This was the year Shane was laid off and returned to college.

2005-A gold ball with a Sheriff's office theme, for the year Shane was hired onto the department.

2006-Jaika's first Christmas.

2007-A karate chopping Santa represents the girls' new love for karate and their precious leaders.

2008-Audrey's first Christmas.

I would love to hear about your ornament traditions! Share in the comments:

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