A Tree Full of Memories

Christmas ornaments starting top left: Tin Ornament from Oaxaca, Mexico, Bonhomme from Winter Carnival in Quebec City, Royal Copenhagen ornament from Denmark and a straw ornament from the Czech Republic (I believe), the evil eye from Istanbul, Turkey, a Swedish doll from Stockholm, Sweden

Instead of buying souvenirs when we travel we tend to try and find Christmas ornaments.  Sometimes these are improvised and not really meant to be ornaments at all – the blue evil eye ornament, and the Quebec Winter carnival ‘ornament’ which is really an entrance pass you put on your jacket are cases in point.  This means that once a year, as we unwrap all of our baubles and sparkles for the tree we take a moment to think back to all of those wonderful trips and memories.  It makes putting together the tree extra special.

Ornaments starting top left: Danish ‘nisse’ elves from Haderslev, Denmark, a lobster from Maine, the green ‘go’ light symbol from Berlin, Germany, Santa surfing on a stingray from Cayman, Chamonix ski passes from Chamonix France.

Some of the ornaments are a bit tacky, and some are really pushing the idea of an ornament.  The Chamonix ski pass was made by gluing our two ski passes together and passing ribbon through it.  I know it’s really not everyone’s idea of a beautiful christmas tree, but the memories from the tree are priceless.

And speaking of priceless memories, we’ve erected a ‘gift fence’ to try and keep our curious toddler away from the tree (notice all the decorations are only on the top half).  We’ll see how long that lasts…

Do you have any special Christmas traditions or ornaments?

How do you keep your toddler away from the tree??  One of my friends actually put up a chicken fence!