Friday, December 9, 2011

Our Tree Of Memories

As I mentioned last week we had to buy a new tree for our basement because the old one was too tall. The poor little star couldn’t fit on top! After getting a smokin’ deal on boxing day we finally set up the new tree last Sunday.

The upstairs tree is the formal “pretty” tree. It has all  the ornaments that we bought and that really don’t have any significant meaning to us.

The new tree is going to be our fun family tree. Filled with ornaments that we got on vacation (every vacation we go on has an ornament), ones that were given or made for us.

It was fun putting up the ornaments, one at a time, and remembering the people or experiences that represented these ornaments.

Visit to North Bay 029

Santa in an inner tube wearing Hawaiian printed swimming trucks! This is the ornament that we purchased on our trip to Hawaii! It actually makes me think of the trolley rides down from our hotel to the shopping street. It’s where we purchased this ornament but I loved the ride on the trolley near the ocean.

Hawaii 273 

The next ornament is actually a funny story. Ryan and I took a small summer vacation too visit the 1000 Islands and then take it Upper Canada Village. At 1000 Islands (and Bolt Castle) we did the tour and I saw some beautiful ornaments but I thought I would wait, thinking that Upper Canada Village would have beautiful handcrafted ones.

Holidays 139

Out for supper on our trip.

Well they didn’t. Not even one. I was kind of bummed. A short while later my friend, Sara, mentioned that her and her husband Graham were going to go do the 1000 Island tour. I begged for Sara to pick me up a Christmas ornament. About a week later Sara handed me the 1000 Island souvenir bag contained one beautiful magnet…..woops! ha ha! We still laugh about it and I turned the magnet into an ornament. It is definitely the ornament on the tree with the best story!

Willow Ann 015

The next ornament will always make me think of a beautiful wedding on the beach. It was an epic trip with a great group of friends down south to celebrate and watch the marriage of Kerry-Lynn and Jeff.

Cuba 350_edited-1

Again, I had trouble finding a Christmas ornament and finally I had to get creative. I loved these little maraca key chains that they were selling. So, I bought one and removed the key chain part and put some thread through! Now, it works perfectly as a Christmas tree ornament and a great reminder of the awesome time we had in Cuba.

Visit to North Bay 032

Then there’s this ornament…..

Visit to North Bay 033

You would think that this ornament reminds me of our trip to New York, right? Well, it does. Sort of. It reminds me of the day that I gave Ryan the tickets to New York for his birthday. Little did I know…he had a bigger surprise for me!

Engagment 049

This is our newest trip ornament!

Visit to North Bay 030

This ornament I searched long and high for when we went to visit friends Josh and Amanda in Calgary. In fact, Amanda and I drove out there together!

Calgary 2001 012

It was an awesome trip but I was having such a hard time finding the perfect ornament. On our last night there Amanda surprised me with a birthday present which contained the special ornament to remind me of our trip.

Calgary 2001 057

There’s also other special ones like this one Faith made me:

Visit to North Bay 035

Or this one that Ryan’s Aunt Shirley and Katelyn gave me last year.

Visit to North Bay 034

Not to mention this guy that Jilly got me the first Christmas that I was home from out west.

Visit to North Bay 036

Our tree is pretty empty because we are still starting our lives out together! But, as years go on we will add more ornaments that represent that time in our life.

Visit to North Bay 039

Each ornament on this “family” tree has a story to tell. As I unwrap each one carefully before putting it on the Christmas tree I take a moment to remember what experiences and people remind us of that certain ornament. They are all very special to me.

Happy Friday!

xo

9 comments:

  1. im guessing that there is going to be one that says First Christmas Married or something on it next year...or will that go on the "pretty tree"...??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, being that the "pretty tree" is only boughten ornaments (like it says in this post) then "First Christmas Together" ornament will go on the family tree for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know, I have very few ornaments that mean anything - there all just balls that I bought in my red-and-gold/Sens theme. Maybe I should start a tradition like this someday!

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh how awesome! Yeah we have special meaning ornaments too :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories, Lindsay. I am a real sucker for ornaments and cherish all mine...especially the beautiful hand made ones from when we lived in Germany as newleyweds. I have 6 handblown crystal icicles that are my favorites and only I am allowed to hang them up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Woah! I'm really enjoying the template/theme of this blog. It's simple, yet effective.
    A lot of times it's very hard to get that "perfect balance" between user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say you've
    done a great job with this. Also, the blog loads very fast for
    me on Chrome. Excellent Blog!

    Feel free to visit my weblog ... zumba pants 1980s

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've loaded your site in Three completely different web browsers and I must say your blog loads a lot quicker then most. Would you mind contacting me the name of your web hosting company? My personal email is: taren-osullivan@yahoo.de. I'll even sign
    up through your own affiliate link if you would like. Appreciate it

    Check out my weblog: buy computer parts locally

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hiya. Sorry to hassle you but I ran across your blog and noticed you are
    using the exact same theme as me. The only problem
    is on my blog, I'm battling to get the theme looking like yours. Would you mind emailing me at: shawncasteel@gmail.com so I can get this figured out. By the way I've
    bookmarked your website: http://www.blogger.com/comment.
    g?blogID=4140514887880781187&postID=7094909365205413317 and will certainly be visiting often.
    Thanks!

    Also visit my weblog zinsco circuit breakers replacement

    ReplyDelete
  9. Greetings! My partner and I often write guest posts for other web site owners to
    help gain publicity to our work, as well as provide fantastic articles to website
    owners. It's a win win situation! If you happen to be interested feel free to email me at: rogelio-whitmire@gawab.com so we can communicate further. Thanks!!

    Also visit my homepage; sears home appliances canada

    ReplyDelete