Look at all the lovely ornaments, where do they all come from?

When I first moved out of my parents house I, like many newly minted adults, had absolutely no Christmas tree ornaments. I was also broke, so buying a lot of new ornaments at $3-7 a pop was out of the question. So I bought a bunch of ball ornaments. I tried to get fancy ones that had glitter and snowmen (or something) on them. They were better than nothing, but not as satisfying as a tree covered in ornaments that mean something to you.

When I moved in with my husband, I had a little more money, but he was very Bah, Humbug about Christmas and our merger meant we were attending two family Christmases and were not home on either Christmas eve or Christmas day. I bought a couple cases of nice mercury glass ornaments and a metal ornament tree, instead of a real tree we would set it up on our entry table and put the presents under the table. It was pretty perfect for just the two of us. A good mix for a Grinch and a Christmas lover. That worked for a while. We acquired a few random ornaments including one from our wedding and one from our honeymoon. But it really wasn't a priority.

When A. came along, I started thinking about Christmas traditions and what I wanted for her. I decided to buy her an ornament every year she could take with her when she moved out. About the same time I read an article about buying an ornament while you are on vacations so every time you decorate the tree, you remember all the fun things you have done. So since A.'s birth our ornament collection has grown exponentially. We probably have acquired 10 a year between trips, buying for A. and just finding things I like. (Because once I get on a roll it is hard to stop.) Then there are the crafty ornaments A. has made in preschool and with mom and Grandma. We now have so many ornaments they don't all fit on a six foot tree.

Last year I decided to write down a brief description of where the ornaments came from. Which have really special meanings to me and which are just pretty little things along for the ride. And it got me thinking about other people's ornaments. How do other people collect their ornaments? Where did my Grandparents ornaments go when they passed? When my late husband's grandmother passed, there were no ornaments to be found. Where did they go? I asked a few of my friends and while most of them hadn't thought about it, they didn't think there were any ornaments left from their grandparents. They mostly knew their moms had ornaments from their childhood, but what happened to the one's from their parents childhood?

So, use the comments and tell me about your ornaments. Do you collect them with method in mind, or just the one's that speak to you? Are they too expensive to be bothered with, or does your tree need to be completely color coordinated and decorator approved? Do you have old ornaments from your childhood or from your grandparents? What's the story?

In parting, I will leave you with a picture of my latest ornament that we bought on our trip down the California coast this summer. It's hand blown glass was originally designed to be a window sun catcher, but with a change to the holder is now on the tree. One secret I will tell you is that buying ornaments on vacations sometimes requires a little creativity. In June you can't always find a good ornament, but things like sun catchers and keychains can often be converted from their original purpose to a great ornament.